Natural rubber output surges 27% in FY09

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New Delhi, Oct 7 : Natural rubber production has gone up by 27% so far in this fiscal, FY2008-09, on the back of conducive climate and higher prices while consumption, too, gained pace, with rising demand from tyre manufacturers and rose by 5%. The overall production so far in this fiscal has increased to 3.93 lakh tonne from 3.09 lakh tonne in the year-ago period, a senior Rubber Board official said, adding that output in September increased by 21% to 79,000 tonne against 65,275 tonne in the same month last year.

In sync with the upward curve of production, the overall consumption during April-September also increased to 4.44 lakh tonne from 4.22 lakh tonne during the same period a year ago. Consumption in September also rose marginally to 76,000 tonne from 74,590 tonne in the same period last year. “Consumption rose due to an increase in production and exports of tyres,” the official said. During the period under review, the import of natural rubber, however, declined to 36,386 tonne from 44,247 tonne, while export rose to 29,667 tonne from 17,398 tonne. But imports in September have shot up by 9% to 9,878 tonne from 9,093 tonne due to a fall in prices in the global market, while export rose marginally to 1,250 tonne from 1,166 tonne.

For FY2008-09, the Rubber Board has pegged the natural rubber output at 8.75 lakh tonne and consumption at 8.99 lakh tonne. Exports and imports are estimated at 50,000 tonne and 80,000 tonne respectively for 2008-09. In the 2007-08 fiscal, the production of natural rubber declined by 3%.