The Hindu Business Line : Rubber exports fall by 42%

KOTTAYAM: A rise in the domestic prices of natural rubber has hit hard on India's rubber export which slumped by 42 per cent to 29,674 tons during April-January period of the current financial year as compared to 51,393 tons in the corresponding period a year ago, a senior Rubber Board official said.

"Rubber exports suffered due to a rise in domestic prices... till the last week of December 2007. Prices in the country were either ruling higher or on par with the global rates,'' a senior official who does not want to be identified told PTI.

Exports, however, gained momentum during January to 7,000 tons from 4,780 tons in the previous month as global prices surged above domestic levels, he said. The prices of natural rubber in the overseas market rose by Rs 11 to Rs 104.18 per kg against do mestic prices Rs 93.25 per kg on January 31, he added. If the prices would remain firm in overseas market, the board hopes to export about 47,000 tons of natural rubber by the end of the current financial year.

"As prices in the global market are improving, we see more exports happening in the coming months,'' the official said adding that India's imports, meanwhile, may slow down with the decline in domestic prices. Imports into the country have touched 76,63 4 tons during the first ten months of the current financial year, up 38.12 per cent over the corresponding period last year. The country imported 55,482 tons of rubber in the same period previous year.

The rubber production in the country during April-January period stood at 7.24 lakh tons. Production in January month alone went up by 8.86 per cent to 1.05 lakh tons, as against production of 96,450 tons during the same month last year. The board, how ever, has projected the rubber output to exceed 8.25 lakh tons during the current fiscal. - PTI

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