India: Kerala should mechanize rubber latex harvesting

KOCHI: Kerala should opt for the mechanisation of rubber latex harvesting, said Jay Nambiar, chief executive officer of Hevea-Tech Pvt Ltd, a Kuala Lumpur-based rubber technology consultancy, on Thursday. He was talking on the sidelines of Asian Latex Conference being held atRamada Resort in Kochi. The two-day conference will end on Friday.

“Kerala should find urgent techniques for reducing the dependence on labour for harvesting the rubber latex. It should either mechanise the harvesting method or should improve on the existing method,” said Nambiar, who is also the chairman of the conference. He also said that the state should move towards value-added technology to develop materials for niche markets that could improve the profitability of industries. He further stated that the growth of synthetic rubber market wouldn’t affect the country’s natural rubber market as 90% of the products are a blend of these two grades.

Rubber Board chairman Sheela Thomas said in her inaugural address that there is a steady increase in the use of natural rubber latex-based medical products, physical fitness aids and other products like household gloves.

According to the figures presented by Thomas, Asia accounts for 85% of the latex consumption and it is the fast growing market for latex-based products. “Malaysia tops in the production and export of latex-based products and its consumption was around 3.7 lakh tonne in 2012. In India, rubber consumption is mainly in dry forms and latex accounts for only 7.5% of the total rubber consumption,” she said.

C Vinayaraghavan, president – SBU B, Harrisons Malayalam Ltd, commented that there should be a clonal exchange programme between the countries to increase the productivity of rubber trees. He also focused on the necessity of better preservation techniques for rubber latex.

India Rubber Summit 2013 will take place on Saturday.

Source: India Times