India’s natural rubber (NR) production in 2016-17 is expected to exceed the 654,000-tonne target set by the Rubber Board for the fiscal year as output rises nearly 18% to 622,200 tonnes until February 2017 from a year ago.
The consumption for the same period also rose 4% to 942,695 tonnes. Despite February being a lean month, natural rubber output showed a 54% increase to 57,000 tonnes compared with the same month in the previous year.
The increase in production and the rise in the international natural rubber prices have impacted the imports, which have fallen 7% to 400,812 tonnes for 11 months. For February alone the imports dropped by 51% to 15,609 tonnes.
The NR exports have been the principal gainer during the year, standing at 15,450 tonnes for 11 months to February 2017. In the same period in the previous year, the exports came to 832 tonnes. After touching 30,594 tonnes in 2012-13, the exports showed a consistent decline in the subsequent years with the international prices dropping. In 2015-16, it fell to a record low of 865 tonnes.