The Indian Rubber Growers Association has asked the Centre to suspend rubber imports, considering the fall in prices.
When the prices fell in 1999, the Government had stopped imports under advance licence scheme through a notification. A similar situation has arisen now and the Government should act accordingly till the prices improve, Sibi J Monippally, President of the Association, said.
In a memorandum submitted to the Commerce Ministry, he urged the Government to increase the import duty of rubber to 40 per cent beyond the domestic requirement and restrict the imports to end users only. He pointed out that in 2013-14, imports were to the tune of 3 lakh tonnes against 2.14 lakh tonnes the previous year.
Production and consumption of rubber is almost balanced with output at 9.3 lakh tonnes and consumption at 10 lakh tonnes. The requirement by 2020 will be 15 lakh tonnes. To attain this goal, he suggested sustainable development of production with the support of farmers.
– The Hindu
