Sky-high prices of exportable RSS-4 grade rubber, which prompted planters to maximise their output, has pushed natural rubber production in India up by almost 23% in the first quarter of current financial year.
According to the provisional figure of Rubber Board of India, by the end of first quarter, as much as 13,136 tonnes of rubber was exported while during the corresponding period last fiscal, the country could exports only 10,410 tonnes of rubber.
?It is not merely the crude-price effect on natural rubber margins that’s behind the growth in production. This time, climate has been favourable for rubber growth, with the sunny weather and monsoon showers alternating in moderation?, Sibi Monipally, general secretary, All India Rubber Growers Association said.
However crop scientists are worried that the per tree yield is not at its best, probably, because of excessive tapping. Ideally, a tree could yield about 600 mg latex (in wet weight). The fall in per tree yield needs to be an area where long term production planners need to look into.
By its projections during 2008-09, the Rubber Board estimates of natural rubber output is pegged at 8.75 lakh tonnes and consumption at 8.99 lakh tonnes in the current financial. The rubber production fell by 3% during 2007-2008. The current off-season production high amply hints that a shortage of the magnitude of the 2007-rubber famine is unlikely to repeat this year.