The production of natural rubber during May increased by more than 27% to 59,000 tonne against 46,485 tonne recorded a year ago. According to the Rubber Board?s provisional figure, the consumption of rubber by the tyre and non-tyre sectors increased by 7.74% to 71,000 tonne in May against 65,895 tonne recorded last year.

?It?s a seasonal mismatch in production and consumption, the production would be significantly higher during October-January session,? a Rubber Board official told FE. He also said that increase in production is is due to favourable climatic conditions, increase in tapping days and better prices.

According to the 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.

During 2007-08 fiscal, the production of natural rubber declined by 3% to 8.25 lakh tonne from 8.52 lakh tonne in the previous fiscal. Consumption increased by 5% to nearly 8.6 lakh tonne during 2007-08 against 8.2 lakh tonne in the year-ago period.

The official said that the slight mismatch between production and consumption is due to presence of a disease in rubber trees in some parts of Kerala, one of the major producer of rubber in the country.

?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,? the official said.

During May, the export of natural rubber declined to 2,800 tonne from 4,141 tonne while import dipped to 7,500 tonne from 7,978 tonne in the same period. ?There is decrease in import and export due to marginal difference in domestic and international prices,? he said.

India exported 51,381 tonne during 2007-08 against 56,545 tonne in the previous fiscal. The imports stood at 87,219 tonne against 89,699 tonne in the review period

The exports and imports are estimated at 50,000 tonne and 80,000 tonne respectively during 2008-09. Kerala, West Bengal, Tripura and Orissa are the biggest producer of natural rubber.