Natural rubber production to hit 8.8 lakh tonne by FY24-25 end: AIRIA

CHENNAI: India’s natural rubber (NR) production has grown 8.6% from 7.89 lakh tonne in FY21-22 to 8.57 lakh tonne in FY23-24 with industry estimating it will hit 8.82 lakh tonne in FY24-25.

Shashi Singh, president, All India Rubber Industry Association (AIRIA), said: “By 2030, NR production in India should hit one million tonne, but consumption has been growing significantly too. Currently NR consumption in India is 14.16 lakh tonne which is estimated to go up by 5% and close at 14.86 lakh tonne by end of FY24-25.”

The gap of around 5.5 lakh tonne is mostly made up of imported NR and synthetic rubber (SR).

“NR production increase takes at least 7 years, and the govt has been promoting plantations in the north east, particularly Tripura with a target to becoming self-sufficient by 2047,” said Singh. However, domestic NR is both more expensive and slightly below par in quality to imported varieties.

While imported NR costs around Rs 200 per kg, domestic is currently at Rs 210 to Rs 220 per kg which had, during the monsoon season, gone up to Rs 245 per kg, he said.

There’s 25% customs duty or Rs 30 per kg (whichever is higher) on imported NR which costs around Rs 200 per kg so the duty impact is Rs 50, he explained.

India produces 5.46 lakh tonne of synthetic rubber even though domestic consumption is 7.84 lakh tonne. “Total rubber production in India is 15.58 lakh tonne including 8.57 lakh tonne of NR, 5.46 lakh tonne of SR and 1.5 lakh tonne of reclaimed rubber,” said Singh.

Currently, India produces both butyl rubber and butadiene rubber or NBR. “The govt has recently imposed anti-dumping duty on import of butyl rubber and now there is a proposal to impose anti-dumping duty on NBR imports too which will skew the supply,” said Singh.