KOTTAYAM: Rubber growers, who are used to selling their produce as latex, should switch over to processing sheets as lower prices are now being realised for field latex in the market, Rubber Board chairman Sajen Peter has said.
In a statement, the chairman said the current domestic price of sheet rubber was above the international price, by a margin of nearly forty rupees per kilogram.
Such a huge price differential is unrealistic and, therefore, unsustainable.
But, the latex price in the domestic market at present is moving in tandem with the international price.
Prices much above the world market, for different rubber grades or latex, would not be beneficial for the growers in the long run, Peter said.
He demanded that Rubber Producers’ Societies and Community Processing Centres should focus on producing maximum quantity of latex for sheet making.
All processing centres, which presently process their produce as sheet, should aim at full capacity utilisation, he said.
The Board had issued similar instructions in August 2008, when a similar situation had prevailed, he said.