Lok Sabha Question No. 4615 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-29
Subject: Natural Rubber
Ministry: COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
Asked by: Dean Kuriakose

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY (DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE)

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4615 TO BE ANSWERED ON 29 th  MARCH,2023

## NATURAL RUBBER

## 4615.   ADV. DEAN KURIAKOSE:

Will the Minister of COMMERCE & INDUSTRY ( वाणिज्य एवं उद्योग मं त्री ) be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Ministry  of  Commerce  has  been  allowing  the  WTO  Bound  Rate  of  25% import duty;
- (b) if  so,  the  quantum  imported  during  the  last  five  years  and  the  quantum  of  import  duty collected, year-wise;
- (c) whether the Government is considering to share a portion of the import duty so collected with  rubber  producing  States  like  Kerala  to  subsidise  rubber  farmers  in  distress  due  to steep fall in the price of natural rubber, to fetch Rs. 250/- per kg. of natural rubber;
- (d) if so, the details thereof;
- (e) the details of the cost of production per kg of natural rubber as per the recommendations of the Rubber Board/Agricultural Cost and Prices Commission; and
- (f) whether the Ministry has been allowing import of compound rubber and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## okf.kT; ,oa m|ksx ea=ky; esa jkT; ea=h ¼Jherh vuqfiz;k iVsy½

## THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY (SMT. ANUPRIYA PATEL)

(a): The bound rate of duty under Article 2 of the General Agreement for Tariff and Trade (GATT) 1994 in WTO for dry forms of natural rubber (NR) is 25%.

(b): The  details  regarding  the  quantum  of  natural  rubber  imported  and  import  duty collected for the period 01 st April, 2018 to 23 rd  March, 2023 are attached as Annexure.

(c) and (d): No such proposal is under consideration.

- (e): The details of Cost of production of Natural Rubber (2021-22) as estimated by the Rubber Board is as under:-

| Cost of production of natural rubber (2021-22)   | Cost of production of natural rubber (2021-22)   |
|--------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------|
| State                                            | Cost (Rs/kg)                                     |
| Assam                                            | 66.01                                            |
| Karnataka                                        | 91.30                                            |
| Kerala                                           | 90.64                                            |
| Tripura                                          | 70.61                                            |

Cost: All paid out costs of labour and material inputs, interest on working capital and depreciation

Tapping System: Once in three days

(Source: Rubber Board)

- (f): Compounded rubber is allowed to be imported under HS Code 4005 on payment of applicable import duty. In the Union Budget 2023-24, the rate of custom duty on compound rubber has been increased from 10 % to 25% or Rs. 30/kg (same as that on natural rubber).

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Annexure referred to in reply to Part (b) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 4615 for answer on 29.03.2023.

Import details for 4 digit CTH(Custom Tariff Heading) 4001 for period 01-Apr-2018 to 23-Mar-2023

|   SL No. | Year        |         Quantity | Unit   |   Assessable Value(In Rs.) |   Import Duty(In Rs.) |
|----------|-------------|------------------|--------|----------------------------|-----------------------|
|        1 | 2018 - 2019 |      5.03756e+08 | KGS    |                5.3342e+10  |           1.09883e+10 |
|        2 | 2018 - 2019 |  67962.7         | MTS    |                4.92611e+09 |           7.53704e+08 |
|        3 | 2018 - 2019 |      6           | NOS    |           189940           |        9566.3         |
|        4 | 2018 - 2019 |    116           | PCS    |           242766           |        9553.6         |
|        5 | 2019 - 2020 |      3.51794e+08 | KGS    |                3.76051e+10 |           6.92231e+09 |
|        6 | 2019 - 2020 | 190704           | MTS    |                9.99891e+09 |           1.80487e+09 |
|        7 | 2019 - 2020 | 508215           | NOS    |                5.58333e+07 |           1.88684e+07 |
|        8 | 2019 - 2020 |      3           | PAC    |             8674.97        |         537.7         |
|        9 | 2019 - 2020 |    300           | PCS    |              554.27        |         187.8         |
|       10 | 2019 - 2020 |      1           | UNT    |             9562.7         |         754.3         |
|       11 | 2020 - 2021 |      2.9094e+08  | KGS    |                3.21557e+10 |           4.87525e+09 |
|       12 | 2020 - 2021 | 188340           | MTS    |                1.02638e+10 |           1.72567e+09 |
|       13 | 2020 - 2021 |   1202           | NOS    |                1.92977e+06 |      278973           |
|       14 | 2020 - 2021 |    570           | PCS    |           104472           |       17697.2         |
|       15 | 2020 - 2021 |     20           | SQM    |           243051           |       12845.5         |
|       16 | 2021 - 2022 |      3.72235e+08 | KGS    |                5.2092e+10  |           6.65795e+09 |
|       17 | 2021 - 2022 | 119200           | MTS    |                1.74843e+10 |           2.45911e+09 |
|       18 | 2021 - 2022 |  16608           | NOS    |                2.18258e+06 |      271259           |
|       19 | 2021 - 2022 |    381           | PCS    |            43514.4         |       16937.8         |
|       20 | 2021 - 2022 |      3           | PRS    |               59.42        |          51.1         |
|       21 | 2022 - 2023 |      3.76907e+08 | KGS    |                5.38322e+10 |           7.29176e+09 |
|       22 | 2022 - 2023 | 117550           | MTS    |                1.7169e+10  |           2.51002e+09 |
|       23 | 2022 - 2023 | 151989           | NOS    |                1.5452e+07  |           4.39894e+06 |
|       24 | 2022 - 2023 |    522           | PCS    |           358251           |        4540.6         |
|       25 | 2022 - 2023 |      2           | SET    |           249062           |       12522.4         |

Source: Department of Revenue

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