Kochi: India’s natural rubber production fell 7.5 per cent in 2018-19, even as consumption went up 9 per cent year-on-year, thanks to heavy rains and low prices. At 6,42,000 tonnes, as per the provisional data of the Rubber Board, production was the second lowest in recent times after that in 2015-16, which saw the worst plunge to 5,62,000 tonnes. Nearly a decade ago, output used to hover around 9,00,000 tonnes.
Consumption has been growing consistently in the past couple of years and it reached 1,211,940 tonnes last year. As a result of the large supply deficit, imports escalated 24 per cent to a new high of 5,82,351 tonnes. Following heavy rains last year, the Rubber Board had scaled down its production target to 6,00,000 tonnes from 7,00,000 tonnes. The crop went over target because of increased tapping in the last few months of the year.
“The output from the northeastern states should also have helped in boosting the production,’’ said N Radhakrishnan, a rubber dealer. Tripura and Assam are the two biggest growers of rubber after Kerala. Though the total share of north-eastern states is only 23 per cent of the total rubber output, production in this region has shown a healthy growth in the past few years unlike in Kerala.
Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com