The United Planters’ Association of South India (UPASI) has called upon the Government to play its role as a regulator and introduce necessary safeguards to limit rubber imports.

UPASI understands the need for imports to bridge the gap between consumption and production, but unbridled imports beyond this gap are clearly causing harm to the domestic growing industry.

Dwindling production would not only affect the income of growers but also lead to higher imports, draining the exchequer of valuable foreign exchange, N. Dharmaraj, President, UPASI said.

Speaking at a stakeholder meeting organised by the Rubber Board to discuss the current crisis in the rubber sector, Dharmaraj said India has shown the maximum negative growth in production of minus 21 per cent among world producers. This was the result of both low prices and high cost of production compared to other producing countries.

In 2014-15, imports were to the tune of 76 per cent of production and 43 per cent of consumption. At the end of October this year, the stock with growers was only 66,000 tonnes, which is an insignificant quantity taking into account that there are 12 lakh growers. The stocks with dealers, processors, and manufacturers was 1,62,000 tonnes.

The projected production for 2015-16 is expected to be below 600,000 tonnes since large areas are being abandoned due to un-remunerative prices, he added.