Kottayam: The Rubber Board announced that the Indian natural rubber (NR) sector registered a growth of 8.3 per cent in production and 9.0 per cent in consumption in 2022-23 over the previous year. Rubber production increased to 839,000 tonnes in 2022-23 from 775,000 tonnes in 2021-22. Meanwhile, consumption increased from 1238,000 tonnes in 2021-22 to 1350,000 tonnes in 2022-23.
The Statistics Consultative Panel of the Rubber Board, which includes the representatives of small and large rubber growers, processors, tire and non-tyre product manufacturers, and Rubber Producers’ Societies (RPSs), analyzed the performance of Indian and global NR sector in their twenty-first meeting convened at Kottayam. The panel meeting discussed the changes in rubber statistics for 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 compared to 2022-23. India now ranks sixth in the world among other NR rubber-producing countries. India occupies the sixth position among major producing countries of Natural Rubber, accounting for 5.8% of the total world NR production during December 2022. India continued to occupy the second largest consumer of NR, accounting for 9.3% of global consumption during 2022.
The Rubber Board has taken several concentrated efforts to augment NR production in the country. The Board distributed rain-guarding materials through RPSs and the growers rain-guarded the trees and so they could harvest more days in the rainy season. The Rubber Production Incentive Scheme (RPIS) implemented by the state government has also encouraged the farmers to continue tapping efficiently. Control of leaf diseases, adoption of rubber holdings for harvesting and the formation of Rubber Tapper Groups (RTGs) etc., are other reasons for increasing domestic rubber production.
Total NR demand in the country also showed significant growth of 9% during 2022-23 compared to 2021-22. The auto tyre segment consumed 70.3% of the total NR consumed in the country and registered 4.8% growth in 2022-23 compared to 2021-22. The general rubber products sector registered a high positive growth of 20.4% during 2022-23 compared to 2021-22. During 2022-23 passenger vehicle exports showed a 14.7% increase compared to 2021-22.