Indian tyre makers turning to imported rubber

Ongoing concerns over the availability of natural rubber have prompted India’s tyre makers to cast an envious eye on supplies from outside the country. Now the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA), the organisation representing ten of India’s tyre manufacturers, has handed the country’s Commerce Minister a statement saying the tyre industry will more strongly rely on rubber imports.

According to an article published in The Economic Times on 22 July, the statement communicates that this heavier use of imported natural rubber results from tyre makers’ production schedules being hit by limited availability of domestically-harvested natural rubber. Rising prices on the local market also play a role. ATMA chairman Anant Goenka said he hoped Minister of Commerce & Industry Anand Sharma would appreciate the necessity of this move.

The ATMA also repeated its demand for the reintroduction of a tariff quota system for natural rubber, as was in place in 2011 when 40,000 tonnes of the material was permitted into India at a lower duty of 7.5 per cent.