NEW DELHI: INDUSTRY AGENCY ATMAAAAATMAAAAAAAMA Today, India’s aging rubber trees could lead to supply problems in the future and the government should encourage rubber plantation and provide more subsidies to the growers to increase the production in order to promote rubber.

The growers are reluctant to replant due to the long gestation period. They are continuing to cut down old trees as they believe that the current high price of natural rubber (NR) makes them profitable despite the low production, they said in a statement.

(Automotive Tire Manufacturers Association (ATMA) He said, “As the price of natural rubber declines from its current high level, growers should be encouraged to plant rubber sheet trees,” and “they will be more receptive to our planting program,” he said. ) Expression.

This issue will be raised at the next National Rubber Policy Working Group meeting. as any further delay could seriously affect the long-term interests of both producers and consumers.

Rubber trees have a gestation period of six to seven years before harvest. The rubber tree reaches its growth period in seven to ten years, reaches peak production in the next ten years and then production starts to decline.

Rajiv Budhraja, director general of the ATMA, noted that India poses a “serious risk” to future declines in natural rubber production, and that “while recent or expected declines in production have been caused by adverse weather conditions, the fact remains that production will decline. ” “Yes,” he said. India’s aging trees put it at risk. He said, “We are confident that the working group will take note of the important issue of deterioration of rubber trees and recommend that it be eliminated in the policy currently being drafted.”

Budhraja said a “worrying trend” was that India was not replanting its existing natural rubber resources in a timely and “sub-optimal” manner, while other consumers were even consolidating supply by developing overseas plantations.

He added that the annual production of natural rubber was 1,903 kilograms per hectare in 2008, which fell to 1,823 kilograms per hectare in 2012.

A recent ATMA study found that as much as 45% of Indian rubber manufacturers’ natural rubber plantations fall into the low-yielding ‘mature’ category, with a quarter of them already over-ripe.

“The age of the rubber trees has deteriorated over the last few years and the availability of natural rubber and the long-term supply of natural rubber to meet the growing demand is of utmost concern.”

ATMA member companies are the largest consumers of natural rubber in India, accounting for 70% of total consumption.