Natural rubber production surges 21 pc in Sept

New Delhi, Oct 5 (PTI) Natural rubber production has goneup by 21 per cent in September on the back of conduciveclimate and higher prices, thus increasing the output so farthis fiscal to 3.93 lakh tons -- a growth of 27 per cent. Natural rubber output reached 79,000 tons in Septemberagainst 65,275 tons in the same month last year, a seniorRubber Board official told PTI and added that the overallproduction so far this fiscal has increased to 3.93 lakh tonswhile it was 3.09 lakh tons in the year-ago period. Keeping pace with production, consumption also rosemarginally to 76,000 tons in September from 74,590 tons in thesame period last year. Similarly, the overall consumptionduring April-September also increased to 4.44 lakh tons from4.22 lakh tons during the same period a year ago. "Consumption rose due to an increase in production andexports of tyres for trucks, buses and cars," the officialsaid. During the period under review, import of natural rubbershot up by 9 per cent to 9,878 tons from 9,093 tons, whileexport rose marginally to 1,250 tons from 1,166 tons. "The increase in imports can be attributed to a fall inrubber prices in international markets by Rs 10-15 against thedomestic rates," the official said. For the 2008-09 fiscal, the Rubber Board has pegged thenatural rubber output at 8.75 lakh tons and consumption at8.99 lakh tons. The exports and imports are estimated at 50,000 tons and80,000 tons respectively for 2008-09. In the 2007-08 fiscal, the production of natural rubberdeclined three per cent to 8.25 lakh tons from 8.52 lakhtons in the previous fiscal. The consumption, however, increased by five per cent tonearly 8.6 lakh tons during 2007-08, against 8.2 lakh tonsin the year-ago period. PTI