India's NR output expected to rise.

India's natural rubber output is expected to rise to 755,000 mt in the current year to March 2005, from 711,650 mt in the previous year. India's imports are expected to increase to 60,000 mt this year from 44,199 mt in the previous year, according to a report from the United Planters' Association of Southern India. Kerala accounts for about 92% of the country's natural rubber output.

Natural rubber imports into India during the first quarter of the current fiscal year rose by 65% over the same period last year as tire manufacturers increased imports in the face of soaring prices and a shortage of supply in the domestic market. During the April-June period, imports of rubber stood at 18,899 mt, as compared with 11,429 mt in the corresponding period in 2003.

According to an official with a leading tire manufacturer, the industry could not have done without increasing imports during the quarter, since there was a severe shortage of rubber in the domestic market.

From mid-May onwards, heavy monsoon rains in Kerala had affected tapping. Consequently, in the domestic market, the stocks shrunk to a nine-year low at about 66,000 mt and prices surged. In June, the highest imports in the quarter were reported at 7,826 mt.