Rubber growers in Karnataka have urged the Central Government to increase the import duty on natural rubber to 75 per cent from the existing 20 per cent.

To discuss various issues related to rubber growers in Karnataka, a state-level conference of rubber growers will be conducted at Puttur in Dakshina Kannada district on September 5.

Addressing presspersons here on Tuesday, Gopalakrishna Bhat, president of the organising committee of the conference, said that the price of natural rubber has come down from ?220 a kg in August 2012 to ?128 a kg in August 2014. One of the reasons for the crash is the import duty on natural rubber.

He said the import duty on rubber is 20 per cent or ?30 a kg, whichever is lower. Such a low entry barrier leads to the import of poor quality rubber into the country, affecting the prospects of domestic rubber growers. The Government should increase the import duty to 75 per cent, he said.

Giving details about the import of natural rubber into the country, Bhat said that India imported 81,545 tonnes of natural rubber in 2008-09. During 2013-14, the country imported 3.25 lakh tonnes of natural rubber. Almost half of that import was done in the first three months of the current fiscal itself, he said, adding that the country imported 1.61 lakh tonnes of rubber in the first three months of 2014-15. Around 42,500 tonnes of natural rubber was imported in August 2014 alone, he said.

Source:- thehindubusinessline.com