Rubber growers and tyre manufacturers are on a collision course over the natural rubber import data, even as the former is keenly looking at the upcoming Union Budget for sops, in the wake of the slump in prices.

The farmer groups feel that the claims being put forward by tyre makers and importers, of low volume of imports this year, are ‘motivated’.

The United Planters’ Association of Southern India (UPASI), along with the Indian Rubber Growers Association, National Federation of Natural Rubber Producers Society, Latex Processors Association and the Kerala Rubber Karshaka Samrakshana Samithi, has repeatedly been highlighting the ‘anomalies’ in the reports, stated a press release here.

“Some of the claims by the tyre makers are as follows: ‘The drop in production this year is purely on account of extremely non-remunerative prices that have forced the farmers to discontinue tapping’. This is a distress situation, and using this peculiar situation as a reason to justify the increased imports is only self-defeating. Imports in the first ten months of the year have crossed 3.5 lakh tonnes, which is almost 68 per cent of the current year’s production.

Given the current trend, imports will touch 5 lakh tonnes in the current fiscal.”  “It should also be noted with concern that the accumulated excess quantity of imports over production, consumption and exports over the last 5 years is more than 5.5 lakh tonnes. More and more imports are being suggested, citing drop in production, at a time when a huge quantity of rubber imported over a period of time is lying in stock. The argument that imports have gone up by just 45,000 tonnes during the current fiscal is baseless and highly misleading, as 1,52,767 tonnes of rubber was imported in the last fiscal over and above a production-consumption gap of  2,07,520 tons, (total imports 3.6 lakh tonnes).

Meanwhile, in the current financial year, though the gap was 2,34,800 tonnes, imports have already touched 3,59,000 tonnes, which is 1,25,057 tonnes more than what is requirements,” it stated. The lower production in the current year,  owing to abandonment of tapping due to extremely un-remunerative prices, is now being turned on its head to justify the massive imports.

A similar approach to retrofit current year’s non-tapping phenomenon to downsize last year’s production was vehemently opposed by the grower representatives during the deliberations at the National Rubber Policy meeting.

The growers said that there was a lot of optimism, hope and expectations among them that there would be a slew of measures, in the impending Budget proposals,  including increase in import duties on natural rubber and a critical review of the existing policies that have been detrimental to the natural rubber industry.

Source:- newindianexpress.com