Tyre industry has urged Centre to make natural rubber (NR) imports easier through lowering of duties, highlighting that rubber production in February has fallen by 16%. In its communication to the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, the industry has asked for duty free imports of NR equivalent to the projected domestic deficit, which is about 3.6 lakh tonne. “Tyre industry has been passing through a challenging phase as far as the raw material availability is concerned. The industry has put in significant production capacities to meet the demand from automobile industry and transportation/ mining sector. However, production planning is seriously undermined as domestic availability of NR is in awfully short supply. As much as 35% of the requirement of natural rubber needs to be met by imports,” said Rajiv Budhraja, director general ATMA ( Automative Tyre Manufacturers Association, in a release.