AMSTERDAM: Increasing import duty on natural rubber to 25 per cent has failed to curb shipments of the commodity to India as international prices remain subdued and domestic growers have yet to intensify tapping, discouraged by low rates.
Domestic production declined 11 per centto 45,000 tonne in April from a year earlier, according to data released by the Rubber Board. Consumption improved marginally to 82,000 tonne.
The tyre industry imported 37,250 tonne – an increase of 28%.
The tyre industry imports block rubber variety SMR 20 at a landed price of about Rs 120 per kg. This is costlier than block rubber ISNR-20 and cheaper than sheet rubber RSS-4, both produced domestically and generally used by the industry.
In terms of quality, the block rubber we import is superior to not only ISNR-20 but even to RSS-4. The lower prices seem to be discouraging growers from maintaining consistent quality. Also, to cover the production-consumption gap, imports will contin ue despite a change in duty,” said Rajiv Budhraja, director-general of the Automotive Tyre Manu facturers’ Association.
