|Description | Overview |
History | Cultivation pattern | Rubber
countries | Indian rubber market |
Major trading centers | Contract
Rubber is a polymer consisting of hydrogen and carbon and is
elastic in nature. It is found in the fluid of some specific
plants but it can also be produced synthetically. Naturally,
rubber is produced by the process of tapping of the plant called
Hevea Brasiliensis. These plants generally have 32 years of
economic life but they may live up to 100 years or even more than
that. Synthetic rubber is produced through the process of
polymerization of various monomers.
The basic property of rubber is that it comes
back to its original shape if it is twisted or stretched but if
heat is applied to the rubber, it wont return to its original
Rubber is found in two varieties – Natural Latex and Natural
Natural Latex is referred to a fluid,
white in color, which is attained from rubber tree. It
comprises of small rubber particles and plant proteins.
Natural Rubber is produced with the help
of either of the two processes – Natural Rubber Latex
process (NRL) or Dry Natural Rubber process (DNR) and it
includes all the products made from latex.
The rubber industry produces wide range
products like auto tyres, auto tubes, automobile parts, footwear,
belts, cables & wires, battery boxes etc. Block rubber,
Preserved Latex, Crepes and sheets are some forms in which rubber
is produced and used.
The world’s total production of rubber was 7.9 million tons in
2003 and the Asian countries dominated it with 6.76 million tons
i.e. about 85% of the total world’s produce. Thailand, Indonesia
and India are the topmost rubber producing countries in the world.
World’s total rubber consumption in 2003 was 7.89 million tons
including synthetic rubber consumption of 1.13 million tons i.e.
about 14% of the total consumption. The natural rubber consumption
is largely contributed by the automobile industry and the
transportation sector. The tyres and tubes producing companies
like Pirelli and Bridgestone etc requires lakhs of tons of natural
rubber annually. The leading consumer country of rubber is China
with a figure of 1215000 tons of rubber consumed during 2001.
India comes at the fourth place when the consumption of rubber is
concerned with a total consumption of 631000 tons in 2001 after
U.S.A and Japan.
Rubber industry is very sensitive as the price of rubber is
constantly changing and any economic decline or rise affects the
rubber industry to a large extent.
maize, rubber also owe its existence to South
America. Since a long time, the central and the
south americans had collected rubber from a
plant named Castilla elastica. These people used
to play a ball game by making balls of rubber.
The natives came to know about the various uses
of rubber and understood the importance of it.
Other than playing games with rubber balls,
rubber was also used in making temporary shoes,
fixing stone and metal tools to wooden handles
and making water proof clothes.
the europeans explored the american continent,
they were all astonished to see a material like
this and how these native americans used it.
Likewise the whole world was introduced to
rubber. It was later found that rubber was
successful in erasing or rubbing the pencil
marks on the paper. Thts how this material got
the name ‘Rubber’.
The most common rubber plantations consist of a
plant Hevea Brasiliensis. It is a tall, lean
plant, which is the most economical plant for
rubber production. The latex is extracted from
the plant by making a slanting cut in the bark
of the trunk. It is called tapping of rubber.
Initially this plant was found in South America
but it was introduced to the rest of the world
and now Asian countries have become the leading
producers of rubber by adopting and cultivating
this plant. At least, the 1st 6 years of this
plant do not produce any rubber and to reach the
tapping stage it may take even about 12 years.
Rubber plantation needs a
hot and humid climate to prosper. These plants
have great quality of sustaining in the drought
condition but it prefers humid and wet
conditions to grow.
The natural rubber can be produced using the
following processes: -
Dry Natural Rubber
process – In this process, the rubber is
compressed at high pressure and temperature.
The allergic proteins lose their nature in
these conditions and hence become less
Natural Rubber Latex process – In this
process, rubber is produced by suspending
the natural latex in a concentrated
colloidal form. It includes a greater amount
of allergic proteins that makes it a more
- Thailand (2357000 tons)
- Indonesia (1543000 tons)
- India (632000 tons)
- Malaysia (546000 tons)
- China (451000 tons)
- Vietnam (317000 tons)
- Liberia (109000 tons)
- Sri Lanka (86000 tons)
- Brazil (80000 tons)
- Philippines (66000 tons)
- Nigeria (50000 tons)
- Cambodia (47000 tons)
Thailand started a replanting program in
1991 and as a result it became the leading producer
and exporter country replacing Malaysia. Thailand’s
rubber has become the world’s largest used rubber
and the whole world is dependent upon it as Thailand
has a strong base on research and development of
rubber in India
Unlike the world production of rubber which was unstable
during the last 10 years, Indian production is
consistently growing @ 6%. The areas in India on which
the rubber is produced can be divided into 2 zones –
traditional and non-traditional. Traditional zone
comprises of the southwest coastal regions of India
Non-traditional zone constitutes
regions of Karnataka
areas of Maharashtra
Northeastern states (mainly Tripura)
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Kerala contributes 90% of India’s total
production. Also, Kerala and Tamil Nadu share 86% of
the growing area of natural rubber.
As mentioned above, India stands at the third place in
the list of rubber producing nations in the world.
Also, India is the leading producer of reclaim rubber
and has the capacity to fully consume its natural
rubber production. India’s production fluctuates
around 6-7 lakh tons annually which amounts to Rs.
3000 crores. Kerala accounts for 90% of the total
Indian produce. 72% of the total rubber production is
in the form of Ribbed Smoked Sheets (RSS), which is
also imported by India accounting for 45% of the total
As of Indian natural rubber consumption, it stands at
the fourth place after USA, China and Japan. Turnover
of Rs 12000 crores is done by the Indian rubber
industry. Most of the rubber is consumed by the tyre
industry i.e. 52% of the total production of India.
Kerala is the leading consumer of rubber in India
followed by Punjab and Maharashtra.
India largely exports rubber in the form of tyres
which make worth of around 1200 crores a year. The
exports of Indian natural rubber have increased
dominantly during the past few years and have reached
76000 tons in 2003-04. The major market countries of
Indian exports are: -
Though, India is one of the leading producers of
rubber, it still imports rubber from the countries
like Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and Sri
Lanka as under the Advance License Scheme, re-export
of the imported rubber is permitted with a condition
i.e. 44 kg of natural rubber can be
imported against 100kg of exports. Currently India is
importing around 50000 tons of rubber annually.
Market Influencing Factors
Production of rubber
fluctuates on a monthly level keeping low in the
Production growth in
Ratio of domestic rubber utilization and imported
International price movements of rubber
Hoarding and storability
trading centers of rubber
India, rubber is traded at
It is also traded at the Indian commodity
exchanges like National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange
ltd, Multi Commodity Exchange of India ltd and
National Multi Commodity Exchange of India ltd
contract specifications of rubber in various commodity