Natural Rubber production in the country set to exceed target

KOCHI: The natural rubber production (NR) in India is all set to exceed the target of 6.54 lakh tonnes set by Rubber Board in 2016-17.

The production climbed nearly 18% to 622,200 tonnes till February 2017 from a year ago. The consumption for the same period rose 4% to 942,695 tonnes. Despite it being a lean month, the production in February showed 54% increase compared with same month in previous year to 57,000 tonnes.

The increase in production and the rise in the international NR prices have impacted the imports, which have fallen 7% to 400,812 tonnes for 11 months. For February alone the imports dropped by 51 % to 15,609 tonnes.

The NR exports have been the principal gainer during the year. For 11 months to February 2017, it stood at 15,450 tonnes. In the same period in the previous year, the exports came to 832 tonnes. After touching 30,594 tonnes in 2012-13, the exports showed a consistent decline in the subsequent years with the international prices dropping. In 2015-16, it fell to a record low of 865 tonnes.