India’s imports of natural rubber (NR) during the first half of 2022 reveal the country’s increasing preference to NR from Vietnam and Ivory Coast. During the first half of 2022, India’s imports from Vietnam jumped 49.3%, year-on-year, to 61,350 tonnes and the imports from Ivory Coast jumped 100.4%, year-on-year, to 54,150 tonnes. Strikingly, the imports from Indonesia fell by 38.6%, year-on-year, to 53,300 tonnes during the same period. The volumes imported to India from various countries during the first half of 2022 are shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Sources of NR imported in India during H1 2022 (‘000 tons)
| Total from Jan to June | During June | |||||
| 2021 | 2022 | % Change | 2021 | 2022 | % Change | |
| Vietnam | 41 | 61 | 49.3 | 3.1 | 7.4 | 138.4 |
| Cote d’Ivoire | 27 | 54 | 100.4 | 6.5 | 10.0 | 52.6 |
| Indonesia | 87 | 53 | -38.6 | 14.8 | 8.6 | -41.5 |
| Malaysia | 44 | 51 | 17.3 | 7.8 | 8.9 | 14.6 |
| Thailand | 42 | 45 | 7.9 | 6.6 | 6.0 | -8.5 |
| Ghana | 4 | 13 | 0.9 | 0.2 | ||
| Singapore | 20 | 10 | 4.7 | 2.2 | ||
| Myanmar | 3 | 7 | 0.8 | 0.4 | ||
| Nigeria | 0 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | ||
| Bangladesh | 1 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.1 | ||
| Others | 29 | 30 | 5.4 | 6.5 | ||
| Total | 297 | 329 | 10.9 | 50.7 | 50.4 | -0.5 |
| Notes: (1) The figures given in the table cover products coming under HS 400110, 400121, 400122, 400129, 400280, 400510, 400591 and 400599. (2) Latex (400110) is accounted in wet weight. Dry weight comes to around 60%. |
India imported 329,500 tonnes of natural rubber during the first half of 2022, up 10.9% year-on-year. This quantity includes 65,200 tonnes of compound rubber (HS 400510, 400591 and 400599) and 2,000 tonnes of mixture rubber (HS 400280). For a closer understanding of India’s import basket of NR, please refer to Table 2.
Table 2. Forms of NR imported in India during H1 2022 (tonnes)
| Total from Jan to June | During June | |||||
| 2021 | 2022 | % Change | 2021 | 2022 | % Change | |
| Latex (4001 10) | 0 | 5 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 127.2 | |
| RSS (4001 21) | 18 | 29 | 55.2 | 1.2 | 2.3 | 90.5 |
| Block rubber or TSR (4001 22) | 215 | 227 | 5.7 | 37.8 | 35.1 | -7.3 |
| Other primary forms of NR (4001 29) | 1 | 2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | -41.3 | |
| Mixture of natural rubber (4002 80) | 2 | 2 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 19.5 | |
| Compound rubber (4005 10) | 38 | 41 | 8.2 | 6.8 | 7.2 | 6.7 |
| Compound rubber (4005 91) | 14 | 16 | 9.9 | 2.8 | 3.0 | 9.1 |
| Compound rubber (4005 99) | 8 | 9 | 7.5 | 1.4 | 2.0 | 45.2 |
| Total | 297 | 329 | 10.9 | 51 | 50 | -0.5 |
| Note: Latex (4001 10) is accounted in wet weight. The dry weight comes to around 60% only. |
According to a section of stakeholders of the Indian rubber industry, Indian manufacturing companies increasingly import NR in the form of compounds (HS 400510, 400591 and 400599) and mixture rubber (HS 400280) which attract only 10% basic customs duty as against 25% basic customs duty levied on HS 400110 (Latex), 400121 (RSS), 400122 (TSR) and 400129 (Other primary forms of NR). Imports of compound rubber are allegedly guised imports for evading the incidence of the higher rate of customs duty levied on NR.
India imported only 2,000 tonnes of mixture rubber (HS 400280) during the first half of 2022. Of the total quantity of 65,200 tonnes of compound rubber (HS 400510, 400591 and 400599) imported in the country during the period under reference, a considerable portion (32%) was from the countries such as the U.S., Canada and South Korea which are nor suppliers of NR. Obviously, the quantity imported from these countries cannot be guised imports of NR. From among the NR producing countries, Thailand and Malaysia are the major suppliers of compound rubber to India. Imports of compound rubber from Vietnam and Indonesia are either negligible or nil. This point is evident from Table 3.
Table 3. Sources of compound rubber imported in India during H1 2022 (Tonnes)
| Total from Jan to June | |||
| 2021 | 2022 | % Change | |
| Thailand | 16.0 | 17.9 | 12.2 |
| Malaysia | 15.3 | 16.7 | 9.4 |
| United States | 13.4 | 16.0 | |
| Indonesia | 2.3 | 2.6 | |
| Canada | 1.4 | 2.1 | |
| South Korea | 1.8 | 1.5 | |
| others | 9.8 | 8.4 | |
| Total | 60.1 | 65.2 | 8.5 |
| Note: The figures given above cover the products coming under HS 400510, 400591 and 400599. |
The baskets of NR imported into India during the first half of 2022 showed considerable variation across source countries. While the basket in the case of Ivory Coast was almost 100% TSR, it was a mix of different NR forms in the case of imports from other source countries. For example, the total quantity of 51,000 tonnes imported from Malaysia during H1 2022 was composed of 54% TSR, 33% compound rubber, 10% RSS, and the balance latex. The set of four tables given below shows the composition of imports from Vietnam, Ivory Coast, Indonesia and Thailand during the first half of 2022.
Tables 4-7: Composition of the basket of NR imported from Vietnam, Ivory Coast, Indonesia and Thailand during January-June 2022 (Tonnes)
Strikingly, Ivory Coast has emerged as the largest supplier of TSR to India. Out of 227,000 tonnes of TSR imported in India during the first half of 2022, Ivory Coast contributed 54,000 tonnes, followed by Indonesia (47,900 tonnes) and Vietnam (45,100 tonnes). If the imports of TSR in India during the month of June 2022 are considered, Ivory Coast supplied 10,000 tonnes followed by Indonesia (7,800 tonnes) and Vietnam (5,800 tonnes) out of 35,000 tonnes of TSR landed in the country during the month.
It is the competitive price that helps Ivory Coast to get preference over other producing countries as a global supplier of TSR. This point is evident from Chart 1 which compares the unit CIF value of TSR imported in India during June 2022 from the major NR producing countries.
Chart 1. Unit CIF value of TSR imported in India during June 2022 from major producing countries
The unit CIF value of TSR imported from Ivory Coast is the lowest (US$183.3 per 100 kg) among all the major producing countries. On the other side, Indonesia emerged as the highest cost country as far as the India’s sourcing of TSR during June is concerned.
To sum up, the key takeaways from analysis of India’s NR imports during the first half of 2022 are:
- India’s imports of NR increased by 10.9% during the first half of 2022, but marginally decreased (-0.5%) during June 2022 on an annualized basis.
- Ivory Coast and Vietnam substantially increased their stakes in the Indian NR market by respectively posting a 100.4% and a 49.3% annualised increase in the quantity imported during the first half of 2022.
- Indonesia substantially lost it stake in the India NR market. Imports from Indonesia fell by 38.6% during H1 2022 and by 41.5% during June 2022 on an annualized basis.
- TSR continued to dominate the basket of India’s NR imports, followed by compound rubber.
- Nearly a-third of the compound rubber imported in India during H1 2022 are from the U.S., Canada and South Korea which are not suppliers of NR. As such, the compound rubber imported from these countries cannot be considered as guised imports for evading incidence on customs duty.
- The basket of NR imported in India considerably varied according to source countries. While almost 100% of the imports from Ivory Coast are TSR, imports from other producing countries included compound rubber, RSS and latex as well.
- Ivory Coast emerged as the largest supplier of TSR to India helped by its competitive price over other major NR exporting countries.
- Indonesia emerged as the highest cost region for the Indian manufacturing companies to source TSR.