The country?s natural rubber production is likely to fall short of consumption, a senior Rubber Board official said on Tuesday. However, the short fall is not likely impact the prices of rubber, as there are enough stocks with tyre manufacturers and dealers.

According to the provisional figure announced, the production of natural rubber rose by 6% in April 2008 to 57,000 tonne, as against 53,665 tonne achieved during last year. The consumption of natural rubber also correspondingly grew at more than 13% at 74,000 tonne in April, compared to 65,350 tonne achieved during last year.

According to a Rubber Board official, the projection relating to production of natural rubber during the current fiscal is estimated to be 8.75 lakh tonne, while the consumption is estimated to be at 8.99 lakh tonne in 2008-09. ?The short fall is unlikely to impact the prices of rubber, as more than 1.57 lakh tonne of opening stocks of rubber are with manufacturers, dealers, and processing units,? a rubber board official told FE.

The official also said, ?Increase in tapped area led to growth in production,? a senior Rubber Board official said, while acknowledging that growth in consumption was witnessed from tyre and non-tyre sectors

In 2007-08 fiscal, the production of natural rubber declined by 3% at 8.25 lakh tonne from 8.52 lakh tonne in the previous fiscal. The production fell because of excessive rainfall and loss in tapping days due to viral disease during the first half of the last fiscal.

However, the consumption increased by 5% to nearly 8.6 lakh tonne during 2007-08, as against 8.2 lakh tonne achieved during 2006-7. Meanwhile, export of natural rubber rose to 3,049 tonne in April, against 2,164 tonne in the year-ago period, while import declined to 3,384 tonne from 9,013 tonne in the same period. ?Since domestic and global price are almost equal, there was least scope for export as well as import in April,? the rubber board official said. India exported 51,381 tonne of rubber in 2007-08, as compared to 56,545 tonne in the previous fiscal. The imports stood at 87,219 tonne, against 89,699 tonne in the same period. Kerala, West Bengal, Tripura, and Orissa are the biggest producers of natural rubber.