Kottayam: Bringing much needed relief to the domestic rubber market and its producers, the demand and the price for the cash crop is showing an upward trend.
The price of rubber has increased by Rs.65 in the last 15 months. This comes at a time when the price at the international market has taken a beating.
On Saturday, the price of rubber touched Rs.180 in the domestic market. This is the record price received in recent times. In the international market, the price is just R. 142. Just remember that in March 2020, rubber fetched only R.115 in the domestic market.
According to Rubber Board Executive Director K.N.Raghavan, the increase in domestic production and the reduction in rubber imports due to the crisis in the shipping sector have mainly contributed to the surge in price in the domestic market.
With the increase in price for latex, the farmers have gone on slow in production. Now, the price for latex has crossed Rs. 128. The field latex gets Rs.180 as price. The rise in the production of COVID-19 safety gadgets is cited to be the main reason for this surge in the price of latex.
The rubber production during April to July in 2020 was 134,000 tonnes of rubber. But in the corresponding period this year, the production has gone up to 187,000 tonnes.
In the same way, the use of rubber during the corresponding four months in 2020 was 2,37,620 tonnes. But during the same period in 2021, 4,16,000 tonnes of rubber were estimated to be used.
The import of rubber in the same period in 2020 was 1,08,424 tonnes. The import during the corresponding period this year was 1,47,809 tonnes.
