With Rs 7,000 crore spent on rubber imports annually, Indian growers suffer. ASEAN rubber floods the market due to low import duties
Kottayam: There has been a slight increase in rubber production compared to the previous financial year. At the same time, there has been a huge jump in the import of regular rubber and compound rubber. While production increased by 2.1 per cent in the 2024-25 financial year, imports increased by 11.8 per cent. The surge in the import of compound rubber is a rising concern in the agricultural sector. It is an increase of 44.5 per cent. The import of compound rubber is 2.45 lakh tonnes.
Reson of import- A problem
The country imports rubber worth Rs 7,000 crore annually. There is a gap of 5.35 lakh tonnes between production and consumption. The expansion of agriculture to the northeastern states is aimed at filling this gap. However, the tyre companies are importing rubber even when prices are rising in the international market and without buying local goods which causes great harm to the farmers. The huge influx of compound rubber, which is made by adding carbon and other additives to rubber, will also harm farmers. Since imports from ASEAN countries, namely Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia have only zero to five per cent import duty, a large amount of compound rubber is coming from there too.
| Financial Year | Production (lakh tonne) | Import (lakh tonne) | Consumption (lakh tonne) | Export (tonne) |
| 2024-25 | 8.75 | 5.50 | 14.10 | 4,819 |
| 2023-24 | 8.57 | 4.92 | 14.16 | 4,199 |
| 2022-23 | 8.39 | 5.28 | 13.50 | 3,700 |
Published: 23 Jun 2025, 10:35 am IST
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