MINISTER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY ( SHRI KAMAL NATH )
(a): The production of natural rubber in the country is more or less adequate to meet the domestic demand. There is only a marginal shortfall.
(b) to (f) : A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (b) to (f) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 340 FOR ANSWER ON 14TH MARCH 2006 REGARDING `IMPORT OF RUBBER`.
(b): the quantity of rubber produced & imported since 2002-03 are as follows:
(c): Yes, Sir. The Government has allowed duty free import of rubber for export production only to the Advance Licence holders, the 100% Export Oriented Units and the Special Economic Zone Units. Duty free import is quantitatively capped as it is based on the rubber content in the products exported and based on Standard Input and Output Norms notified by the Government.
Year Production Import Export (tonnes) (tonnes) (tonnes)
2002-03 649,435 26,217 55,311
2003-04 711,650 44,199 75,905
2004-05 749,665 68,718 46,169
2005-06 515,595 35,100 55,105
(up to November)
till 30th January 2006
(d): Country wise import figures of rubber for the last three years and thereafter including duty free import of rubber is given below:
(in tonnes)
Country 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 (up to November 2005 only)
Indonesia 5125 6924 11758 13283
Malaysia 6646 21706 24986 7501
Myanmar 79 196 561 2008
Singapore 1164 248 435 1091
Sri Lanka 552 388 2331 522
Thailand 10575 12244 26613 8874
Vietnam 1447 1464 1702 1616
Others 629 1029 332 205
Total 26217 44199 68718 35100
(Source: Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence & Statistics, Kolkata)
(e): Duty free import of rubber is allowed only for export production.
(f): Since the duty free import of rubber is allowed under the export promotion scheme for export production only, there is no likely impact on the price of rubber or on rubber growers. At present the international price of natural rubber is higher than the equivalent grade of domestic rubber and there are exports of natural rubber also from India.
