India sees ‘urgent need’ for rubber cultivation expansion

Kottayam, India – India is in “urgent need” to increase natural rubber cultivation as demand continues to rise in the country, according to Dr. Sawar Dhanania, chairman Rubber Board.

In a press conference 18 Aug, Dhanania warned that the current production levels will not be sufficient to meet the consumer industry's demand as consumption is expected to reach 1.5 million tonnes by 2025-26.

This compares to 1.24 million consumed during the financial year 2021-22, which was up 12.9% compared to 1.1 million registered a year before.

During 2021-2022, India's NR production improved to 775,000 tonnes, up 8.4% from the 715,000 tonnes recorded the year before.

According to Dhanania, the production-consumption gap is currently being filled through imports, which he said involve “a huge amount of foreign exchange outgo.”

“Hence there is an urgent need to increase the area under rubber cultivation on a war footing, both to meet the domestic demand and [to] reduce the dependence on imports,” he explained.

The board, he explained, has now identified “a vast stretch of land” in northeast and west Bengal for rubber cultivation.

“'NE-Mitra' is a project conceived by the board to develop rubber plantations in those areas with financial support from consuming industries,” he added.

Presenting India’s 2021-2022 rubber industry performance, the board’s executive director Dr KN Raghavan said the automotive tire sector registered a 15.9% growth during the financial year, against a 3.2% increase recorded the year before.

The general rubber goods sector posted a 5.6% growth during the period, compared to a 16.4% decline the prior year.

The tire industry accounted for 73.1% of the total NR consumption during the financial year.

The board projects NR production to reach 850,000 tonnes in the current fiscal year, and consumption to reach 1.29 million tonnes.