Price has fallen to Rs. 100/kg from Rs. 243/kg in 2011
The Nair Service Society (NSS) has sought immediate intervention from the Central and State governments to hold the plummeting price line of natural rubber. The editorial of the latest issue of NSS mouthpiece Service points out that rubber prices had fallen below the Rs.100 mark a kg on Monday from the halcyon days of 2011 April when rubber prices ruled the all-time high rate of Rs.243 a kg.
The editorial wanted the Central government to commence procurement immediately with a price of at least Rs.160 a kg . It asked the authorities either to stop NR import or hike the import duty by another 50 per cent so that import would become unviable. The two-pronged strategy would help revive tapping in the plantations which they have suspended on account of deflating market trend. “This would not only save precious foreign exchange, but also revitalise the production sector,” it said.
The unscientific price stabilisation initiative by the State government had met with little success and though Rs.300 crore was earmarked for the purpose, only Rs.30 crore could be utilised so far, it said. It added that the nation today imports near six lakh tonnes of natural rubber in place of the average two lakh tonnes in earlier times, resulting in a glut in the market, which had pushed down the prices.
A similar situation in 2002 was overcome by the then Central government by limiting the access to Indian market for NR and also stipulating stiff quality control measures.
Time has come for initiating such innovative steps to curtail NR import, the editorial said.
The present economic crisis faced by the State and the government could be traced to the crisis in the NR sector as Kerala accounts for nearly 90 per cent of the total rubber production, it pointed out.
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NSS mouthpiece seeks price of at least Rs. 160/kg
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6 lakh tonnes of rubber imported leading to glut
