Indian rubber farmers lose 30,000 tons of latex due to summer rains

Kerala, India – The Hindu reports, “Rubber farmers in Kerala have lost at least 30,000 metric tons of latex, worth more than Rs 550 crore at the current price, to unprecedented rains in June, July and early August that brought tapping to a near complete halt for more than 60 days. However, the Rubber Board is confident that part of the losses can be made up in the coming months when tapping peaks.

Rubber production commissioner J. Thomas said that the Rubber Board’s initial assessment of the losses took into consideration the days of lost tapping as well as the incidence of abnormal leaf fall in rubber trees that held out a live threat of reduced latex yield.

The Rubber Board official said though the Board advised farmers to go in for rain guards in May, they held back the operations this year seeing the extremely dry conditions until late into the month of May. Even with rain guards, tapping was impossible in most areas, he added.

Shajimon Jose, secretary of Chirakkadavu Rubber Producers’ Society (RPS) in Kanjirappally, in the heart of Kerala’s rubber country, said that farmers were caught unawares by the heavy rains that started on June 1 and continued into early August.

Figures from the award-winning Chirakkadavu RPS illustrate the extent of production loss. The society, comprising small and marginal farmers and accounting for around 280 hectares of mature trees, saw latex production go down more than 50 percent in June and nearly 40 percent in July this year in comparison to the same months last year.

Dry rubber content (DRC) production in June this year came down to 11,615 kg compared to the 38,624 kg in June 2012. Approximately three liters of normal latex is required to produce a kg of RDC. Production in July came down to 34,353 kg in July 2013 compared to the 54,386 kg in July 2012. Figures for the period until August 15 are still gloomier.

DRC production came down to 6,292 kg during this month compared to the 15,280 kg during the same period last year. The Rubber Board figures for the months of June and July show contrasting pictures. Latex production came down to 38,000 metric tons in June this year against last June’s 62,000 metric tons.

Figures for July were 68,000 metric tons and 46,000 metric tons, respectively, for 2012 and 2013. The contrast between the two years was a sharp departure from the figures for the previous month of May when latex production was 58,000 and 59,000 metric tons, respectively, for 2012 and 2013.”