No more rubber imports

by L.S. Ananda WEDAARACHCHI

Import of rubber will be stopped, said Minister of Plantation Industries D.M. Jayaratna.

He said the ban on the import of rubber was a decision taken by the Plantation Ministry to solve the crisis in the rubber and tea industries.

"Sri Lanka produces ten times, the country's requirement of rubber and there is no need to import rubber as a raw material. About 3,000 mt of rubber were imported from Malaysia, Indonesia and India", he said.

The price of smoked sheet rubber dropped from Rs. 350 a kg last year to Rs. 121 a kg last week. Most of the rubber buyers stopped buying smoked sheet rubber and rubber latex.

Loadstar buys a limited quantity of smoked sheet rubber from registered rubber producers. The Minister said that the rubber industry is affected by the global economic crisis.

With the crisis in the automobile sector, the local rubber industry is badly affected, he said.

Sri Lanka produces about 100,000 mt of rubber annually and exports around 30 per cent of the production. Around 70 per cent is used by local industries to produce tyres, tubes, auto parts, gloves, carpets and mattresses.

The Minister said that the stabilisation fund for working capital for tea leaf factory owners and the tea growers will be reactivated shortly. He said the Ministry will consider a bail out package for the tea industry.

The package will include one month's working capital at a subsidized rate.