Share of Northeast to increase to 32 percent of rubber production

Natural Rubber(NR) demand supply gap has been widening in India and at present nearly 40 percent of its requirement is met through imports. Against consumption of 12.3 lakh tonnes of NR in FY22, domestic production stood at 7.7 lakh tonnes in the country. It is estimated that by 2030, the country would require about 20 lakh tonnes of NR per annum.

The Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association have joined hands with Rubber Board to increase the availability of natural rubber to bring down imports which included bringing planting material from Kerala.

Mr Satish Sharma, Chairman Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association ATMA said this is the first of its kind project in the world where the consuming industry is working in collaboration with Government agencies involved in production of Natural Rubber (NR) with the objective of increasing availability of this strategic raw material in which India is grossly deficient. The major raw material used in tyre production is rubber and the domestic rubber supplies are not sufficient to meet the demand.

“In one of the biggest such projects anywhere in the world, planting material in such large quantities has been transported overcoming all logistical challenges. ATMA NR Project is truly a collaborative exercise with Rubber consuming industry, the Rubber Board of India and all the stakeholders working in unison to realize the vision of an Atma Nirbhar Bharat in rubber production”, Sharma said.

The leading countries which export natural rubber to India were Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia. India is fifth in world rubber production but its share in total rubber consumption in the world is the highest and has maintained the consistency in the natural rubber consumption ratio during the last five years. As per projections, India’s share in natural rubber consumption in the world will increase from 63 to 67 percent.

But India’s per capita consumption of rubber at @1.2 kg is significantly low as compared to other countries thereby offering huge potential for consumption growth in the future.

Thailand produced 4.83 million metric tons of natural rubber in 2021, which accounted for 35 percent of global natural rubber production.

Over 1.65 crore rubber plants have been successfully planted in the Northeast of the country under a project launched by Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association (ATMA) in collaboration with Rubber Board for developing 200,000 hectares of rubber plantation in the North Eastern states and West Bengal over a period of 5 years involving an outlay of Rs 1100 crore. The total financial commitment of tyre companies in the project is Rs. 1000 crore( Rs 50,000 per hectare).

The plantation also involves planting material of 55 lakh successfully transported from Kerala to NorthEast by rakes over the last one year despite logistic challenges. Kerala is the largest rubber producing state in the country.

“Raw material security has been reckoned as a major area of importance for any country in the new world order. Given the importance of such strategic raw material, the country needs to focus on increasing the domestic NR production so as to become self reliant and avoid dependence on import of this critical raw material to the maximum extent possible”, said Dr. K N Raghavan, Executive director Rubber Board. The country at present has 827,00 hectares of rubber planted
area. There are 538 rubber estates in the country and 92 percent production is in small holding sector. The average size of holdings is 0.57 hectares.

ATMA has been asking the government to allow free imports of natural rubber to meet the projected demand supply gap. There are 66 tyre plants in the country. Natural rubber which is the principal raw material of tyre industry is in the ‘negative list’ (not eligible for any concession in custom duty) under various trade agreements.

Headquartered in New Delhi, ATMA is amongst the most active and well-known industry bodies in the country representing the Rs. 60000 crore automotive tyre industry. Being a representative body of nine large tyre companies in India accounting for over 90% of tyre production, ATMA has been accorded the coveted status of true voice of the Indian tyre industry. Rubber exports are estimated at Rs. 14101 crore in 20-21.

ATMA works towards promoting and safeguarding the interests of the tyre industry in India primarily by acting as conduit between the Government and the industry. The Association strives to be an active participant in policy making process and holds frequent meetings with the Government departments to discuss the challenges being faced by the industry in the ever-changing economic environment.

The Association acts as the industry’s interface with the media, opinion leaders, NGOs and other Industry associations around the world so as to present the perspective of Indian tyre industry on different issues.

The project activities are being undertaken in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and West Bengal. The NE region holds immense potential for rubber plantation in view of availability of land and suitable agro climatic conditions. At present NE states account for 18% of the production. Once the objective of developing plantations in additional 2 lakh ha under the ATMA NR Project is achieved, it is estimated that the share of NE
states will increase to 32% of production.

PROJECT ACTIVITIES: Besides plantation, the project entails enhancement of quality of rubber produced through creation of model smoke houses and upgradation of existing smoke houses. Training and Skill Development is a major component of the project and involves creating infrastructure for training facilities, conducting training programmes for farmers, tappers etc. on best practices and technologies.

Under the project, the capacity of nurseries in North Eastern states is being developed to meet the requirements of planting material in the coming years.

The project entails socio-economic development of resource poor population in these states since farmers with land holding of less than one acre are being engaged in the project. Plantation in 2 lakh hectares will therefore directly benefit nearly 2.5 lakh farmers and their families.

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