Tyre sector project $ 1,100 to plant northeastern rubber starting in June

A five-year Rs 1,100-crore project launched by the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association (ATMA), India’s largest tyre manufacturer, to plant 200,000 hectares of rubber in the northeastern provinces will be distributed this month. The board will start investing at a reasonable rate from June. “ We start with 10,000 hectares in the first year due to Covid-19 restrictions and limited availability of plants from kindergartens, ” said Dr K N Raghavan, chairman and executive director of the board.
The bulk of the plants will include those produced at Kerala Kindergarten, the country’s leading rubber producer. In addition to the popular varieties RRII 105 and 430, other RRIM 600 clones forming in the northeast can withstand strong winds and will be planted, he added.

ATMA will provide financial support of Rs 50,000 per hectare through a credit linked system or by paying for investment directly.

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The project is expected to improve rubber production in the arid land at a rate of 600,000 to 700,000 lakh over the past few years as low prices prevent farmers from increasing tapping. Prices began to rise sharply from the end of 2020, reaching a seven-year high of Rs 170 per kg of variety used by the tire industry. Price rallies and board efforts to rehabilitate unused sites in Kerala saw 0.4% to 715,000 tonnes of production in FY21
Industry experts have pointed out that global demand for natural rubber has grown by about 5% CAGR over the next five years as the economy returns to Covid-19.

“The idea is that the production and harvest from these new plants will be higher. We will also make quality improvement programs under the project,” said ATMA director general Rajiv Budhraja.

With many tire factories located in the West and South of the country, the concept of water transport can be explored to reduce travel costs, he added. Wheel-free units are more common in North India, however, they can save on travel costs from Kerala with increased availability from the northeastern provinces.
As production in Kerala has become more widespread, the board and the sector have decided to focus on northeastern rubber plantations in all provinces. The region as a whole includes 23% of the total rubber production and Tripura leading by more than 10% after Assam. The total acreage area under the northeast rubber is 160,000 hectares.

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Kerala rubber production fell by about 15% from 2010 to 5,34,000 tons in FY20 according to the Association of Planters of Kerala (APK). Acreage of rubber in the state has decreased by 8% over a decade to 551,000 hectares. This represents 67% of the total area of ​​822,000 hectares under rubber in the country.
Kerala production at Kerala at 1400 kg per hectare remains 1000 kg after the national average.

“With rising wages, the cost of rubber production in Kerala is between Rs 170-175 per kg in planned lands compared to Rs 52 kg per Tripura. Even in informal fields production costs will be higher than in the northeastern provinces,” said Ajith BK. APK secretary.

Many rubber plantations in Kerala are in the fifth or sixth phase of reduced productivity. “Production is high in the virginity fields in the first 30 years,” she said.

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