Natural Rubber consumption to cross one million tonne

Rubber Board has predicted that consumption of natural rubber will cross a million tonne in 2012-13. The board chairman Sheela Thomas said at a recent meeting that the consumption will touch 10.06 lakh tonnes during the year. The production is projected to touch 9.42 lakh tonnes.

Despite a deficit, she said there would not be any shortage of natural rubber in the market as the projected opening stock in April, 2012, is 2.3 lakh tonnes. Besides, the rubber consuming industry can import around 1.2 lakh tonnes of rubber through duty free channels.

In 2011-12, the production reached 8,99,400 tonnes while the consumption was 9,66,750 tonnes. The rubber consumption in tyre sector increased by 6.3 % whereas that in non-tyre sector declined by 5.4 %.

She said the International Rubber Study Group (IRSG) has forecast the world production and consumption of natural rubber at 11.32 and 11.29 million tonnes with a surplus of 31,000 tonnes during the year 2012. The surplus will rise to 74,000 tonnes in 2013 with the production and consumption of rubber predicted to reach 11.91 and 11.84 million tonnes.