KOTTAYAM: Rubber dealers have stopped buying RSS 4 grade rubber from farmers starting Tuesday. The Indian Rubber Dealers Federation (IRDF) has also announced an indefinite closure of their establishments from March 17.
Dealers had observed a token strike on Monday by closing down their shops. According to Jose Mambarambil, general secretray, IRDF, the dealers are forced to strike after the tyre manufacturers stopped buying rubber from the dealers. Due to this situation, the dealers are not in a position to buy rubber from the farmers, he said.
“If the tyre manufacturers are not ready to buy rubber immediately, we will go on an indefinite strike from March 17 onwards by closing down our shops. The federation blamed the trye manufacturers for not buying rubber leaving the dealers and farmers in the state in dire straits.
When the price of rubber slumped and appeared to go below Rs 100, the Kerala government in December, 2014 had got 12 leading tyre companies to agree to buy natural rubber from the local market at 25 pc extra price, till March 31. Based on the package, the rubber board announced the price of rubber on a daily basis. However, the tyre manufacturers stopped buying rubber from the dealers for over a month leaving the local market in the lurch.
Meanwhile, the steady fall in price of rubber in the international market has been a matter of great concern for the farmers and dealers here.
On Tuesday, the price in the Bangkok market was Rs 111.23 whereas the price declared by the Rubber Board was Rs 134.15.
– India Times
