Rubber industry urged to offer quality products

Nguồn được trích từ trang:  http://www.caosuviet.net/ BS Reporter / Chennai/ Kochi Rubber Board chairperson Sheela Thomas has urged the industry to counter competition posed by plastic products by offering quality products at competitive prices. Speaking at the National Rubber Conference organised by the All India Rubber Industries Association (Airia), she said the main reasons for the decline in natural rubber consumption by the non-tyre rubber sector could be due to replacement of rubber products by plastic and other substitutes, competition from cheaper imported products, outdated technology and rising cost of raw materials. She also asked the industry to go for environment-friendly of products. The non-tyre sector’s share in natural rubber consumption has declined from 55 per cent to less than 40 per cent of the total national consumption in the last decade. She said there had been complaints of increasing import of cheaper rubber products. Such grey area trading practices could only be countered through measures under anti-dumping rules for which proactive action by industry associations like Airia was essential. Association president Vinod Simon said while China could make available natural rubber to its industry at a much cheaper price, high import duties on natural rubber in India had made the Indian products dearer. The import of rubber was inevitable as domestic production was unable to meet consumption and the gap was likely to widen in the coming years. Anant Goenka, MD of Ceat Limited said raw material accounts for 70 per cent of the rubber industry's turnover and both availability and pricing of natural rubber, the key raw material, was the chief concern. In tyres, the input cost pressures had resulted in severe erosion of net margins. Quoting the International Rubber Study Group, he said in 2003 China accounted for 19 per cent of the world’s natural rubber consumption and in 2010 this 34 per cent. India has, however, remained static at 9 per cent during this period. http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/rubber-industry-urged-to-offer-quality-products/468179/ (ldtn)