Even after the Central Government hiked the import duty on natural rubber from time to time, the import of natural rubber through the port in the state has registered a record jump in terms of volume.
Among the ports in the country, Kochi Port is at the fourth position in terms of natural rubber import in the last fiscal, despite the fact that Kerala is estimated to contribute more than 90 per cent of the total rubber production in the country.
According to revenue statistics of Cochin Customs, the revenue received through the import of natural rubber has registered a quantum jump in the last fiscal with the authorities collecting a sum of Rs 81 cr as import duty against the Rs 23 and Rs 13 cr netted in 2012-13 and 2011-12 fiscals, respectively.
This is a record jump when considering the statistics of import of natural rubber through the other ports in the country which registered only a medium increase during this period.
According to the data available with the Rubber Board, around 4.14 lakh tonnes of natural rubber were imported through various ports in the last fiscal, whereas it was 3.60 lakh tonnes in 2013-14 and 2.62 lakh in 2012-13.
According to officials, though the bulk of the import is through the ports in Chennai and Mumbai, the ports in Mundra, Tuticorin, Kochi, Kandla, Kolkata and Vizag have been contributing a medium share during this period.
But in the last fiscal, Kochi port shot to the fourth position in the list just below the Adani port by facilitating the import of around 35,000 tonnes of rubber, even though the bulk of tyre production was based in other states.
According to sources, Chennai and Mumbai ports together accounted for around 2.5 lakh tonnes of the import, while Adani and Kochi shared the lion’s share of the rest of total import of the 4.14 lakh.
This shows that even after the Centre has hiked the import duty of rubber from 20 to 25 per cent recently, it failed to check the import inflow of natural rubber to the country,especially through Kerala, where the total area under rubber cultivation is 5.45 lakh hectares and rubber production has dipped by about 15 per cent in the last fiscal owing to crisis.
Jeby Mathew, state coordinator of The New Rubber Farmers Forum,an apex body of around 20 rubber farmers’ outfit, said the farmers under the Rubber Farmers Forum have decided to boycott tyres manufactured by Indian Tyre Companies from next month. The formal strike convention announcing this would be held on June 7 at Muvattupuzha.
He said that tyre makers have been importing huge quantities of rubber from Bangkok at a time when the same is available in the domestic market for the same price. – New Indian Express