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As uncertainty over the supply of natural rubber continues, the Indian tyre industry is facing trouble. The Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association (ATMA) has brought this issue to attention and wants immediate action to be taken so that production can continue uninterrupted.
ATMA recently reported that the Indian tyre manufacturers are facing a big crunch in the availability of natural rubber domestically. It has also warned that if this goes on like that, then there will be production issues for tyre manufacturers. Although the price of natural rubber (NR) is skyrocketing, its availability has decreased in recent times. ATMA has reported that some sections in the market are withholding the NR raw materials, anticipating further price rises and profiting from that in the future.
This is not new; the crunch in the availability of NR has been there for some time now. But now it has increased too much in tandem with the fact that the prices of NR are at a multi-year high. The Director General of ATMA, Rajiv Budhraja, has expressed his concerns over the current situation and wants immediate actions must be taken to tackle this issue.
According to The Rubber Board of India, at the beginning of the current financial year, the total domestic rubber stock available was around 3.7 lakh tonnes. However, it noted that this high stock is not sufficient to support the current domestic demand.
Natural rubber is the primary raw material for making tyres; the scarcity of NR can create challenges for the tyre plants. As per Budhraja, being customer-oriented, all the tyre makers must look to fulfil the domestic as well as the international tyre demands irrespective of the shortage of NR. ATMA also added that as the tyre industry alone accounts for over 70% of the consumption of NR, importing NR is the only viable option to address any crunch issues.
Tyre makers have no other option but to import NR from other countries. ATMA has instructed the Rubber Board to monitor the domestic NR sales very closely on a daily basis. The aim is to ensure that the interests of the tyre makers and consumers are not negatively impacted.
