Rubber imports by India hit an all-time high in the just-concluded financial year. The country brought in 205,050 tonnes of the material during 2011-12, as against 188,337 tonnes in FY11, registering a growth of nine per cent, according to provisional figures of the Rubber Board. The 2009-10 figure was 176,756 tonnes.
It was a steep rise in the fourth-quarter imports that led the figure to cross the 200,000-tonne mark. March alone recorded 19,199 tonnes of import, as against just 5,253 tonnes in the year-ago month.
The import in February was 22,924 tonnes, as against 8,458 tonnes in the same month of 2011, while in January this was 26,375 tonnes as against 8,163 tonnes in the first month of calendar year 2011.
Overall, in January-March of FY12, rubber imports stood at 68,498 tonnes, against 21,874 tonnes in the same period of the previous financial year. This was mainly due to lower tariffs that prevailed in the global markets for the last six to seven months.
Interestingly, till Dec-ember of the last financial year, the import of natural rubber had recorded negative growth. In fact, the cumulative figure for April-December was 133,693 tonnes, as against 166,463 tonnes earlier.
There was a gap of 66,815 tonnes in the domestic production and consumption of the commodity in the last financial year. The total production in FY12 was 899,400 tonnes, as against 861,950 tonnes in 2010-11, registering a growth of 4.3 per cent. All the same, consumption registered slower growth at two per cent at 966,215 tonnes, as against 947,715 tonnes in the previous financial year.
Earlier, the Board estimated a gap of 75,000 tonnes. Rubber industry organisations had estimated a deficit of around 140,000 tonnes. The provisional figures of the Rubber Board, though, indicates a lower gap in domestic production and consumption.
As for the export of rubber, FY12 saw a slide, even as earlier trends indicated a surge. Total exports stood at 26,531 tonnes, compared to 29,851 tonnes in 2010-11. According to the Board’s estimates, the total stock of rubber in the country by the end of March 2012 was 230,000 tonnes, as against 288,300 tonnes in the year-ago period.
