India’s natural rubber imports in August rose 15 per cent from a month ago to 42,499 tonnes as a drop in global prices prompted tyre makers to raise overseas purchases to meet rising local demand, said an official at the state-run Rubber Board.
The south Asian country mainly imports natural rubber from Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia.
India’s imports in the first five months of the financial year that started on April 1 stood at 176,288 tonnes, up 37 percent from a year ago, the official said on Monday.
A revival in India’s auto industry could lift imports of natural rubber for making tyres by a quarter this fiscal year, which would take inbound shipments to a record and may provide some support for global prices languishing at multi-year lows.