The Indian rubber industry takes hit after hit these past couple of weeks. The cheaper, imported competition is not making things any better.
Rubber threads manufacturers are now cutting down on production since it’s becoming hard to compete with the prices of imported rubber thread. According to a source, 150,000 tonnes of rubber thread were imported to India since the past four months alone.
“Ours is a small industry and a few members have either closed or cut short production with one declaring sick under the BIFR,” a top executive of a leading rubber threads manufacturing company in Kerala told BusinessLine.
“The heat resistant latex rubber thread (HRLRT) industry faces the brunt of the problem. It will be difficult for the industry to survive, unless the import duty on latex threads is revised,” he said.
A source said that import tax on natural latex is at 70%, while rubber threads only have 5%. The international price of centrifuged latex is Rs110/l in India, very high compared to the international price of Rs65/l. Low tax duties combined with lower selling prices make the importers a serious threat to the local industry.