India's rubber imports seen up 12.6 percent

India's natural rubber imports in the 2011/12 financial year are likely to climb 12.6 percent to a record 200,000 tonnes as tyre makers raise overseas purchases to cash in on lower import duty, the head of a trade body said on Tuesday. "Considering the lower imports duty and price parity, I think imports of at least 200,000 tonnes would be there," George Valy, president of the Indian Rubber Dealers' Federation, told Reuters in an interview.
The country imported a record 177,637 tonnes of natural rubber in the financial year 2010/11 which ended in March. Valy said 2011/12 consumption would be one million tonnes and production would be 900,000 tonnes.