India Rubber Meet 2022, the sixth edition of the biennial rubber conference that offers a platform for rubber industries, farmers and scientists involved in rubber research, will be held in Kochi on Friday and Saturday. The meet is being organised by the Rubber Board in collaboration with rubber industry partners, including Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association (ATMA).

Satish Sharma, Chairman of ATMA, will inaugurate the sessions and Sawar Dhanania, Chairman of the Rubber Board and president of All Indian Rubber Industries Association will be among the speakers.

Speaking to reporters, KN Raghavan, Executive Director, Rubber Board, said the theme of the conference is ‘Natural Rubber For Sustainable Future’. The two-day conference will focus on addressing new opportunities, innovative ideas and strategic planning for a more sustainable future.

There will be talks by international experts on the economy and natural rubber on avenues in speciality applications, challenges and opportunities in rubber products, supply chain management as well as sustainable farming practices.

Key speakers

John Baffes, Senior Agricultural Economist, Development Economics Prospective Group of the World Bank, and R. B. Premadasa, Secretary-General of the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries, Kuala Lumpur, will be among the other speakers at the Rubber Meet.

There will be around 200 farmers, who will participate in the two-day session along with 500 delegates from the industry and the community of scientists engaged in rubber research.

According to Raghavan, rubber farmers had been encouraged to engage in self tapping and around 42,000 farmers had taken up tapping in their own farms.

He said the processing of rubber wood was one of the areas in which the Rubber Board is focussing as processed rubber wood was reaching India from other countries. Processing rubber wood offered a great opportunity for the rubber farmers even though in States such as Tripura, rubber wood was being utilised as firewood.

Quoting figures, he said around 25,000 tonnes of rubber products were exported from India, mostly from Kerala, thereby earning a revenue of around ₹3,000 crore. The depreciation of rupee against dollar will be beneficial for the exporters.

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