Govt considering rubber procurement

Kerala government is actively considering procurement of rubber, for stabilization of rubber prices. The demand for hiking the import duty was heard only in the end of December 2013. The state had demanded reinstatement of port restrictions for rubber imports and granting of export subsidy.

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said that increasing of import duty for rubber had resulted in a rise in domestic price of `.10 per kg for a few days, but with the fall in international price, the effect was taken away. I have written to the Centre to grant `.100 crore from the Price Stabilisation Fund of the Union Commerce Ministry. The government is seriously considering steps to go in for procurement of rubber.

On Wednesday, the benchmark RSS4 grade rubber closed at `.145 a kg at Kottayam. RSS3 grade closed at `.138.82 a kg at Bangkok and Malaysian SMR20 closed at `.124.81 a kg. On Tokyo Commodity Exchange, February 2014 futures series closed at ¥225 a kg, March at ¥224.9, April at ¥226.5, May at ¥229.2, June at ¥231.5 and the contract for delivery in July 2014 closed at ¥232.5 a kg. While on National Multi Commodity Exchange, February 2014 futures closed at `.145.08 a kg, March at `.147.40, April at `.150.38 and May at `.152.19 a kg.

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