Market and product

Natural Rubber output declined by 15 per cent in October, 2015 and 17 per cent in November. The picture is growing scarier; where is the silver lining?

The world is reeling under commodity price slump and the story of rubber is more bleak than anything else which has been choking the farmers for long. The prices crashing to an eight-year-low of Rs 100 per kg fittingly conveys the gravity of the situation that the Indian farmers find themselves in.

Many of the farmers have already abandoned the plantations unable to bear the costs amid a price crash that hit them badly. Look at the data released by the Rubber Board: Natural Rubber output declined by 15 per cent in October, 2015 and 17 per cent in November. The picture is growing scarier every month, apparently.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his Kerala visit promised to hike the import duty on Rubber. He might also consider including rubber products under his ambitious Make in India scheme.

Modi's promise will be a shot in the arm for the rubber sector as plantation bodies like United Planters’ Association of Southern India (UPASI) have been clamouring for an immediate freeze on rubber imports.

But there are people who believes Modi's promise to include rubber in Make in India is no the real solution for the current plight of the rubber farmers. The Hindu quoted Sibi Monippilli, General Secretary of the Indian Rubber Growers Association as saying, Make in India scheme on rubber is only value added programme and hence will fail to address the real issues.