The Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) released the May figures in which it said that the global rubber market is starting to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic due to the positive sentiment generated by the ease in lockdown around the world. The recovery was said to have started from the end of April.
The report said that the recovery will be slow-paced and will depend on a number of factors. The ANRPC in its reports estimates that global rubber production is expected to fall by 4.7 % to 13.130 million tonnes. This figure is lower by 303,000 tonnes from the April figures. This drastic change occurred due to India and Indonesia revising their figures. The demand is expected to fall by 6.0% to 12.904 million tonnes.
One of the biggest blows the rubber industry will receive is from the automotive sector with demand for rubber by tire companies is expected to fall by 2.4 lakh metric tonnes from 11.4 lakh metric tonnes to 9 lakh metric tonnes. The figures released were released by the rubber board. This means that India will not have to import any rubber this year.
The production in India increased from 6.53 lakh metric tonnes to 7.10 lakh metric tonnes and 70% of this production is used by the tyre company. Any normal year the tyre manufacturing industry uses 12 lakh metric tonnes and because of this India imports 4.65 lakh metric tonnes but this year India may achieve self-sufficiency even if it wasn’t its aim.
