New duty structure to ease Indian tyre makers’ margin

NEW DELHI (Commodity Online) : With the change in duty-structure, India’s domestic tyre manufacturers will find it less draining on their resources when it comes to importing natural rubber.
The duty has been fixed at Rs 20 a kg or 20 %, whichever is lower.
For imports up to 40,000 tons, the government had lowered duty on natural rubber in December to 7.5% which was effective until March 31, The Economic Times said.
Currently, the rubber prices are at Rs.233 a kg. Earlier duty impositions slashed margins by Rs.47 a kilogram.
Estimates suggest that rubber imports for 2011 are likely to be around the 2009-10 level of 1.7 lakh ton even as deficits pegged at 90,000 tons, against 99,165 tons in 2009-10.
India is the fourth biggest rubber producer in the world.

(Source: http://www.commodityonline.com/news/New-duty-structure-to-ease-Indian-tyre-makers-margin-37909-3-1.html)