India's rubber output is expected to rise 4.1 percent to 780,000 tonnes in the year to March 2006 on favourable weather and expansion in cultivation area, the chairman of the state-run Rubber Board said on Monday.
The country produced 749,665 tonnes of rubber in the year to March 2005. "An improvement in productivity, coupled with an anticipated expansion in tappable area by 7,000 hectares, is expected to increase production," Sajen Peter told a planters' conference in southern India.
India's rubber consumption is expected to rise to 792,000 tonnes in the financial year ending March 2006 from 755,405 tonnes in the previous year.
Peter said rubber consumption had risen 4.6 percent a year in the past 4 years. "The increase in consumption was mainly contributed by the dominant auto-tyre manufacturing sector."
Peter said the country's rubber imports from April to September 12 stood at 34,517 tonnes.
"Domestic prices in the first quarter were higher than international prices, so substantial imports took place. As much as 21,819 tonnes were imported in the first quarter itself," he said.