KOTTAYAM, OCTOBER 10:
The uptrend in production of natural rubber (NR) continued with a 5.7 per cent growth during April-August 2017 as compared to the corresponding period last year, said A Ajith Kumar, Chairman and Executive Director, Rubber Board.
He said this while delivering the presidential address in the 175th meeting of the Rubber Board held at Kottayam today. Production of NR during April-August 2016 was at 245,000 tonnes. This increased to 259,000 tonnes during the corresponding period in 2017. The projected production in 2017-18 is 800,000 tonnes — a growth of 16 per cent over last year.
Imports have been consistently rising from 2008-09 and stood at 458,374 tonnes in 2015-16. However, in 2016-17 imports declined by 7 per cent to 426,188 tonnes. Imports of NR further declined by 11.6 per cent during the period under review compared to the same period last year and 66 per cent of the import was through duty paid channel. The Board has projected imports at 320,000 tonnes in 2017-18.
NR consumption during the same period increased from 4,33,930 tonnes to 441,380 tonnes. Consumption is seen at 1.07 million tonnes in 2017-18.
