THE AUTOMOTIVE Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA) said that the rubber industry will intensify importation of natural rubber (NR) to offset its limited supply, which is already affecting production schedules and prices in the domestic market.
ATMA chairman Anant Goenka has expressed concern to the Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma that the arrival of imports contracted now in August and September could ‘trigger unwarranted backlash from producing interests’. Moreover, he stressed that the importation is by no means an attempt to depress the domestic rubber market.
Likewise, the Association urges the government to allow import of rubber on tariff quota basis as what had been done previously. In 2011 some 40,000 tonnes of rubber were allowed at a concessional rate of duty of 7.5%