New Delhi – India’s Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA) has voiced concern over a “consistent decline” in supply of natural rubber (NR) in the local market.
Indian news agency, Press Trust of India (PTI), reported 9 July that ATMA has urged officials at the Indian ministry of commerce to “take recourse” to NR imports, which are currently highly taxed.
PTI quoted ATMA director general Rajiv Budhraja as saying that in addition to a 25% custom duty, there were also port-side and other logistics challenges, including lack of timely data, in accessing NR.
As previously reported by ERJ, India has down-scaled its NR production outlook for 2018 by 99,000 tonnes to 720,000 tonnes. This follows a 11.4% fall in output during the first four months of the year.
The Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries reported earlier in May that NR consumption in India is set to rise 10.9% to 1.2 million tonnes during 2018.
