Natural rubber production slipped in February even as consumption continued to rise. Dry weather and lack of rains are said to have affected production in February.

Despite growth in area under rubber tapping, the overall production declined by one per cent. The yield declined by 4 per cent.

Given the ‘reasonable' prices in the market, the tapping intensity continued. But the yield declined on paucity of rains and drop in soil humidity.

There has been a prolonged dry spell in the growing regions during the last five months. Figures from the Rubber Board suggest that there has been a 50 per cent deficit in rainfall from November to February.

Consequently, the spurt in tapping area could not be translated into increased production during last month. Due to the dry period, the adverse soil moisture condition is likely to continue in the immediate future.

There has also been an increase in reported instances of the disease, powdery mildew, on rubber plantations since last month. The disease affects new shoots and retards re-foliation of rubber trees.

This comes in the backdrop of lean rubber production season setting in over the country as well as most other rubber producing regions of the world. Firm price trends are expected to continue in markets in case rubber production continues to be low in the coming months.

However, production for the first 11 months of the current fiscal was higher. Production rose by 4.2 per cent, while consumption increased by 1.5 per cent. There was a production-consumption gap of 39,420 tonnes during the period.

Imports during April-February period were at a par with the corresponding period a year ago. Exports during these months picked up and were higher than the same period a year ago.

Rubber stocks declined from 3,15,339 tonnes at the end of February last year to 2,44,000 tonnes now. This fall is mainly due to differences in enumeration statistics between the two years and does not reflect a fall in actual availability.

cj@thehindu.co.in

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