The United Planters’ Association of South India has questioned the consuming industries’ claim on the grade of rubber produced by growers, saying that sheet rubber has all the requisite qualities of TSR (technically specified rubber) model. TSR is only sought after by tyre manufacturers due to its low price and is widely used for making tyres tubes, rubber mats, etc.

According to N Dharmaraj, Upasi President, sheet rubber – which is produced by small growers – entails low conversion cost and has superior qualities. Its production is critical to the rural economy of producing States like Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and the North-East.

The TSR production in the country was only 14 per cent, while the import of this grade constitutes 70 per cent of the last year’s total figure of 4.4 lakh tonnes, he said. Participating in the discussions at the recently concluded International Rubber Meet held in Goa, Dharmaraj expressed concern over dwindling rubber production, saying that the low prices have brought misery to 1.2 million growers.

Majority of them are steadily abandoning tapping and the total tapping area has touched an ominous level of 56 per cent. Seeking the urgent intervention of the Union government to save the rubber plantation sector, he pointed out that the production and productivity has been steadily coming down while the imports have been mounting.

The production in the current fiscal is expected to touch 5.6 lakh tonnes against last year’s 6.4 lakh tonnes.

However, the consumption is likely to hover around 10 lakh tonnes.

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