India's natural rubber output in December fell 2.2% from a year earlier because of adverse weather conditions, but consumption jumped as a reviving economy boosted demand from the tire industry, a senior official at the state-run Rubber Board said Wednesday.
India produced 98,000 metric tons of rubber in the past month, the official said, asking not to be named. Production declined 7% to 628,900 tons in the April-December period from a year earlier, he added.
Consumption during December rose 16.4% to 79,500 tons, leading to a 43% increase in imports to 4,890 tons, the official said. Subsequently, exports fell 65% to 1,090 tons.
The tire sector consumes about 60% of the total natural rubber produced in India. Most car and two-wheeler makers last week reported higher sales for December as demand for new cars and two-wheelers increased with a pickup in the economy.
Colder-than-usual weather in the southern state of Kerala, the main producer of the commodity, had led to misty conditions in rubber plantations, the official said. Tapping of the latex is usually avoided when the tree trunk is wet.
Rubber production was also hit by ageing trees, the official said.
Planters have been avoiding replantation because of high rubber prices in the past few years. New plants take six-seven years for yielding latex and planters aren't sure whether the high prices will hold until then.
Rubber stocks at the end of December totaled 260,000 tons, compared with 208,000 tons a year earlier, the official said.
In November, the board had cut its forecast on natural rubber production for the marketing year that started April 1 to 840,000 tons from its earlier projection of 867,000 tons.
The board had also raised its 2009-10 import target to 140,000 tons from 80,000 tons.
(Source: irco.biz)
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