At present, the farmers are receiving more than 90 per cent of the price as his farm gate price. However, the proposed shift in processing will fetch lower price compared to sheet rubber and it will also make the farmers dependent on block rubber processing factories. RSS grade rubber can be produced at the backyard of farmers, allowing them to hold the stock until the prices are at acceptable level.
Terming the move as anti farmer, C.Vinayaraghavan, chairman, APK said that the Board’s initiative will only incapacitate the farmer of the price leveraging he had enjoyed so far. APK strongly believe that this initiative will only help the rubber consuming industry.
The block rubber production is high in power consumption and effluent treatment cost. The Association felt that all such costs will be reduced from the ISNR prices and the balance will be transferred to the farmer. The block rubber manufactured from latex is generally graded as ISNR 5, which is equivalent to RSS 1 of sheet rubber, he said.
“If we compare the technical specifications of sheet rubber and block rubber, the former is always better in all quality parameters than the latter. That is the main reason for the better price realised by sheet rubber both internationally and domestically compared to block rubber”, he said.
