SL Rubber Industry express concern over State Minister Siyambalapitiya’s statement

The Sri Lanka Society of Rubber Industry (SLSRI) has expressed concern about the statement made by State Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya that amid the strict import control regime on rubber, Sri Lanka's natural rubber prices are stabilizing.

“We the members of the rubber manufacturing industry were perturbed and dismayed to read his statement. Minister is, regrettably, misinformed that RUBBER END PRODUCT Makers are controlling the rubber market. Drop in rubber prices is not due to import control. Rubber prices are not determined locally; it's a global phenomenon,” Dr. Kulatunga Rajapaksha, the Chairman of the SLSRI said in a statement.

Dr. Rajapaksha who is also the Managing Director of DSI Samson Group Pvt. Ltd also stated that this industry has become a reputable major world supplier of quality rubber products The total rubber production (raw rubber and value-added) generated over 1.1 billion US dollars it foreign exchange. Value-added rubber accounted for 80 percent of total rubber exports.

As the Minister who represents a major rubber growing District would know, rubber production has dropped from 152,100 Mt in 2012 to 74,700 Mt in 2019. Productivity of rubber dropped from 1,459 kg/Ha/Y in 2012 to 756 kg/Ha/Y in 2019. Sri Lanka occupied fourth place in the world as a NR producer in late 1960s and fallen to the 12th position and is overtaken by countries that entered into growing rubber much later. The industry is compelled to depend on imported rubber as the local production is insufficient.

The Sri Lankan rubber products manufacturing industry is composed of about 4,530 small, medium and large-scale manufacturing organizations. They use nearly 70-80 percent of the local rubber production.