Synthetic rubber consumption rises 6% in H1 in India

NEW DELHI: India’s synthetic rubber consumption rose by 6 per cent to 2.26 lakh tonnes in the first half of this fiscal, while, production rose marginally to 54,778 tonnes during the period, Rubber Board said.

The country consumed 2.13 lakh tonnes of synthetic rubber in April—September of 2011—12 fiscal, while the output stood at 54,750 tonnes during the period.

The consumption by the auto tyre industry rose by 8 per cent to 1.67 lakh tonnes during the period as against 1.55 lakh tonnes in the year—ago period.

Imports of synthetic rubber declined by 3 per cent to 1.69 lakh tonnes from 1.75 lakh tonnes.

In September this year, the consumption of synthetic rubber increased to 37,150 tonnes from 33,510 tonnes in the same period in 2011, whereas, its use in the auto tyre industry rose to 27,535 tonnes from 24,016 tonnes during the period.

The production of synthetic rubber, however, declined to 7,934 tonnes in September 2012 as compared to 8,421 tonnes.

India imported 31,265 tonnes of the commodity in September this year as against 26,760 tonnes in September 2011.