Rubber board to crack the whip on smugglers

Rubber board to crack the whip on smugglers
TNN | Aug 10, 2012, 03.27AM IST




KOTTAYAM: Large quantity of natural rubber is being smuggled from Kottayam to other states through Kaliyikkavila route. After receiving several complaints, the rubber board has initiated steps to intensify patrolling from its regional centre in Marthandam, Tamil Nadu.

"This is being done on an experimental basis. Since smuggling cases are increasing, we felt the need to comb this area and have entrusted the job to our flying squad. We will review the new system at a later stage," said board director (licensing and excise) C C Chacko.

Kerala levies a value added tax (VAT) of 5% for 1/kg of rubber while the same charged by other states is less. This raises the price by Rs 2/kg in Kerala. Also cess tax (Rs 2/ kg) needs to be paid to the board. Officials said this additional expense is the driving force behind smuggling operations.

Staff shortage had forced the board to close down its Kavalkinar checkpost in Tamil Nadu on Thursday.

But, deputy director of publicity and public relations M G Satheesh Chandran said the checkpost lost its relevance following the closure of the sales tax check post and so it was shut down. "There are so many ways to enter Tamil Nadu, this is not the only route. There was staff shortage as we had two officials who worked in shifts. So the only way to address the smuggling issue was to form a patrolling unit that will check all documents required for inter-state transportation of rubber and whether cess was paid to the board," he said.

The board has two more checkposts at Walayar and Manjeswaram, where four officials handle the work. Board will send two more officers from Kottayam to strengthen the patrolling force to six officers, he added.

Meanwhile, some rubber dealers voiced their concerns. "Compare the annual production and consumption of rubber in Tamil Nadu. The board should maintain a record of this to find out the quantity of rubber being smuggled from Kerala," said a dealer on condition of anonymity.

Kottayam: Large quantity of natural rubber is being smuggled from here to other states through the Kerala border near Kaliyikkavila. In the wake of receiving several complaints, the Board has initiated steps to intensify patrolling operations based from its Regional Centre in Marthandam in Tamil Nadu. But the shortage of staff has forced the Board to close down its checkpost in Kavalkinar in Tamil Nadu, a place close to Marthandam on Thursday.

"This is only done on an experimental basis. Since smuggling is increasing we felt that combing this area by our flying squad would be much better. We will be reviewing the new system at a later stage to see whether it is effective," said C C Chacko, Director, Licensing and Excise Duty Department of the Board.

Kerala state is levying a Value Added Tax (VAT) of 5pc for per kg of rubber while it is less in other states. This makes an additional Rs 2 per kg in Kerala. Adding to this is the cess tax to be paid to the rubber board. According to officials in the Board it is this additional expense here which is the driving force behind smuggling of rubber.

Meanwhile, M G Satheesh Chandran, deputy director, Publicity and Public Relations, Rubber Board, said that the check post was closed down as it lost its relevance following the closing down of the Sales Tax Check post which used to operate in the same place. "There are many other roads to enter Tamil Nadu. Another issue was shortage of staff here as there were only two here which makes one person at a time," he said. "So the only way was to form a patrolling unit to check the documents required for inter-state transport of rubber and cess to be paid to the Board," he said.

The Board has two more check posts at Walayar and Manjeswaram where there are four staff each. Now the board will be sending two more persons from Kottayam to strenghthen the patrolling force in Marthandam which will increase its strength to six.

Meanwhile, some of the rubber dealers complained that smuggling of rubber to other states is flourishing. "Compare the annual production and consumption of Rubber in Tamil Nadu. Board should maintain a record of this to find out the quantity of rubber being smuggled from Kerala," said one of the dealers.







NMCE Rubber may drop on good rain, ample imports
June 20, 2012




KOCHI (Commodity Online): Natural Rubber in India’s National Multi Commodity Exchange (NMCE) may fall in coming days on the back of improved production in the major growing areas due to recent good amount of rains amid ample imports from Malaysia and other producers.

Presently, In NMCE, the rubber futures is trading higher tracking the global movements.

But the sluggish demand from domestic tyres makers due to ample supply from Malaysia is likely to put pressure over the prices. In addition, the recent rains in the major growing areas in Kerala is expected to improve the production of natural rubber in the country.

All this factors is likely to pull the prices further downwards in the domestic market.

Globally, the rubber prices have moved up on the back of improved crude oil prices and surge in Euro against the USD and Japanese Yen, which encouraged the investors to invest in riskier assets like rubber.

On Tuesday, the rubber prices in both global as well as in domestic exchanges remained subdued as the Brent crude oil prices dropped to a near-17-month low below $95 a barrel, which lowered the price of synthetic rubber.

Crude oil is used to manufacture synthetic rubber. If crude oil price rise synthetic rubber turns costly so natural rubber futures rises in exchanges and vice versa.

In Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM), rubber for July delivery traded up 1.3 yen to 256.4 yen per Kg and in NMCE, the commodity rose to Rs 18810 per ton on 20th June at 12:15 IST.





India’s rubber imports drop, inventory ample
Written by HMH | August 9, 2012 | 0 |




Aug 9 (Reuters) – India’s natural rubber imports in July fell by more-than 14 percent from a year ago to 17,084 tonnes, the state-run Rubber Board said on Thursday, as tyre makers slowed down purchases due to comfortable inventory built-up from earlier imports.

The country’s rubber production during the month edged up 2.6 percent on year to 66,000 tonnes despite poor rainfall in top producing Kerala state, the Board said in a statement.

“Rainfall is lower than the average, but we are getting it after regular interval. It will not affect on production,” said George Valy, president of the Indian Rubber Dealers Federation.

“Even in August production will be higher than last year.”

Production during the first four months of financial year ending in March was largely steady at 240,000 tonnes, data showed.

India is likely to produce 942,000 tonnes of natural rubber in the current year, up from 899,400 tonnes a year ago as production that was planned years ago comes onstream in non-traditional areas such as north-eastern states.

The world’s fourth-biggest producer’s consumption during July edged up to 83,000 tonnes from 81,210 tonnes a year ago.

India’s imports in first four month jumped nearly 27 percent on year 76,666 tonnes as in first three months tyre makers aggressively imported to cash in on lower overseas prices. (Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav in Mumbai, editing by William Hardy)