Rubber and tyre industry says imports have been less than production-consumption gap this year

摘要

Rubber and tyre industries have strongly contested the argument that imports of natural rubber (NR) in India were much higher than domestic production deficit leading to distress in the rubber sector, as alleged by United Planters Association of Southern India (UPASI) recently. Quoting Rubber Board data, the industry has stated that against NR production-consumption gap of 2.55 lakh tonnes in the April-Oct period of current financial year, 2.52 lakh tonnes of natural rubber has been imported. 'NR imports are even less than domestic production-consumption gap. Their argument that imports are hurting the interests of growers is flawed. On the contrary, industry is at the receiving end of punitive duty structure. Duties on NR import are much higher than on finished products making industry uncompetitive', said Mohinder Gupta, president All India Rubber Industries Association (AIRIA).