India rubber industry ‘over-reliant’ on NR imports

Kottayam, India – India’s rubber manufacturing industry is becoming over-reliant on imports of low-cost natural rubber (NR), the Rubber Research Institute of India (RRII) has warned.

The warning is based on an RRI study that valued the industry’s output – 66% of which is based on NR – at close to Rs.750 billion per annum, and exports nearing $ 2.5 billion a year.

In recent years, however, low NR prices have discouraged rubber growers from tapping trees leaving imports to meet growth in demand from India rubber product manufacturers.

The report went on to that that this growth “is losing its momentum” and that the industry had “started to become overly dependent on imported NR.”

“Indian rubber industry is too important for the economy to be left to the uncertainties and vagaries of NR supply in the global market for long,” the RRI concluded in a 7 June release.