Govt not considering cut in import duty on rubber: Official

New Delhi: The government is not considering any cut in import duty on rubber as of now as the differential between the local and international prices is maintained, a senior official said on Monday.

"We have a differential already maintained for the imports that we are getting vis-a-vis the local production. "If you see the local price vis-a-vis international price...so there has been a differential maintained on account of that import duty... So I do not think there is any rethink on reducing import duties as of now," Additional Secretary in the Commerce Ministry Amardeep Singh Bhatia told reporters here.

He was replying to a question about the domestic user industry's demand to cut the duties and that of local producers against any duty reduction. Tyre makers are one of the major consumers of the commodity.

Over 13 lakh rubber growers are there in the country. Kerala accounts for a major chunk of the production, which was 8.39 lakh tonne in 2022-23.

Consumption during that fiscal was 13.5 lakh tonnes. The gap is bridged by imports from countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia and other southeast Asian nations. To regulate the import of natural rubber, the government increased the duty on the import of dry rubber to 25 per cent or Rs 30 per kg, whichever is lower from April 30, 2015.

The government had also reduced the period of utilization of imported dry rubber under the advance licensing scheme from 18 months to 6 months from January 2015. Port entry for import of natural rubber has been restricted to ports at Chennai and Nhava Sheva (Jawaharlal Nehru Port) since January 2016.

Further, in the Union Budget 2023-24, the rate of custom duty on compound rubber was also increased from 10 per cent to 25 per cent or Rs 30 per kg, whichever is lower (at par with natural rubber) to curb circumvention on duty.