The Hindu Business Line : Rubber Board proposal to encourage use of `cup lump'

WITH a view to improving the quality and quantity of technically specified rubber (TSR), the Rubber Board and tyre manufactures have come together with a proposal to encourage use of `cup lump' for TSR production.

Currently TSR (or block rubber) is produced in India with scrap rubber or field coagulum, which is the residue after latex is collected from trees. Despite being world's fourth largest producer of natural rubber, the share of TSR in total production is only 13 per cent.

If TSR is made from cup lump, which is formed by coagulating the latex, the quality of TSR will increase substantially. It will also help increase quantity since TSR production currently is constrained by the availability of scrap rubber, which forms just 15 per cent of the total rubber production.

"Scrap rubber is not sufficient for increasing block rubber production. We need to use cup lump," said Mr S.M. Desalphine, Chairman of the Rubber Board.

TSR is processed according to technical specifications laid down by the Bureau of Indian Standards.

TSR was originally developed to counter the threat of synthetic rubber and today, it accounts for 55 per cent of global rubber production. India produces about 80,000 tonnes of block rubber out of an installed capacity of 1.20 lakh tonnes.

Growers in India are not enthused to use cup lump for block rubber production since they get more money for sheet rubber even after incurring processing expenses for the latter.

At a meeting organised by the Board here recently to look into ways and means to promote TSR in the country, tyre manufactures who are importing TSR, assured that they would buy more such rubber from the domestic market provided the quality is improved.

One of the suggestions came up at the meeting was to provide a financial incentive to growers to supply cup lump for TSR manufacturing units. Since the price difference between TSR and sheet rubber is Rs 5-6 a kg at current market rates, growers are unlikely to take to selling cup lump instead of sheet rubber, it was pointed out.

However, no decision was taken at the meeting regarding such fiscal incentives. Right now, the plan is to popularise TSR through the rubber processing societies.