Rubber Exporters Says Concessions Not Helpful

Kochi: The Cochin Rubber Merchants Association has said that the recent declarations of the Finance Ministry in granting concessions to exporters in order to compensate the loss suffered by them on account of rupee parity with dollar will not in any way help the natural rubber exporters. It seems that the Rubber Board and the Commerce Ministry have not done their homework while recommending the relief measures. The present declaration of a two per cent decrease in the interest rate on post- and pre-shipment credit will not give support to rubber exporters as they lose 11 per cent on export exchange rate alone. The Commerce Ministry is aware that the Indian rubber fetches low rate in the international market due to inconsistency in quality standards and non-compliance of packing standards. The natural rubber exports have declined from 73,830 tonnes in 2005-06 to 47,721 tonnes during the first half of 2006-07 and slumped to 8,824 tonnes in the second half.