India's synthetic rubber consumption increased by two percent to 34,675 tonnes in February this year, while its production dipped marginally to 9,569 tonnes during the period, latest Rubber Board data said, according to a PTI report.
In February 2011, rubber production stood at 9,634 tonnes, while consumption of the commodity was 33,925 tonnes, noted the report. During the month under review, consumption by the auto tyre industry rose marginally to 24,850 tonnes from 24,692 tonnes in the year-ago period, the data said.
Import of synthetic rubber went up by 16 percent to 27,695 tonnes in February, 2012 from 23,776 tonnes in the same period previous year. Synthetic rubber is mostly used in the manufacture of tyres, besides in cycle tyres and tubes, footwear, belts and hoses, among other items.
In the first eleven months of the last fiscal, synthetic rubber production increased to 1.02 lakh tonnes from one lakh tonnes in the April-February period of the 2010-11 fiscal. On the other hand total consumption of synthetic rubber increased to 3.87 lakh tonnes in April-February of 2011-12 from 3.75 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period.
Consumption by the auto tyre industry also went up to 2.80 lakh tonnes from 2.72 lakh tonnes in the review period. Total imports rose to 2.97 lakh tonnes in the April- February period of the last fiscal from 2.75 lakh tonnes in the same period of the previous fiscal. The total stock of synthetic rubber in the country at the end of February, 2012 stood at 48,570 tonnes, the report added.
