Material Insights · Understanding the Material World

Natural rubber and Plastic and rubber products

Tyres and other vehicle parts take about 70% of India's natural rubber, but India grows only about 62% of what it uses, mostly in Kerala, so tyre makers import the gap from Southeast Asia and West Africa and back new planting in the North East.

Natural rubber (commodity) and Plastic and rubber products (industry): 3 relationships.

How they are linked

1. Tyres and rubber goods

Physical flow · Strong · Natural rubber to tyre and rubber goods makers

Tyres and technical rubber goods are compounded from natural rubber together with synthetic rubbers, and the vehicle industry is by far the largest buyer; the site finds 3 enterprise types in plastic and rubber products that depend on it and notes that about 60% of the rubber in Indian tyres is natural.

  • around 70% share of India's natural rubber consumed by the automobile industry, 2024
  • 14.10 lakh t India's natural rubber consumption, 2024 to 2025
  • 8.75 lakh t India's natural rubber production, 2024 to 2025

Domestic output covered about 62% of consumption in 2024 to 2025, and the gap has persisted: about 8.5 lakh t of production against 14.2 lakh t of use in 2023 to 2024. Technical rubber goods makers use natural rubber both as dry rubber and as latex.

Enterprise types that depend on it:

  • Natural rubber growers and processors: the crop itself (criticality 4 of 5)
  • Tyre manufacturers: about 60% of rubber in Indian tyres is natural (criticality 3 of 5)
  • Technical rubber-goods makers: latex and dry rubber (criticality 3 of 5)

Sources: Material Insights; Parliament of India; Autocar Professional

2. Kerala and import supply

Geography and ownership · High in India · Kerala growers and foreign suppliers both feed Indian rubber goods makers

Rubber trees need a humid tropical climate, so Indian production is concentrated in Kerala, and the shortfall is filled by imports from other tropical producers.

  • about 71% Kerala's share of India's natural rubber output, 2023 to 2024
  • about 4.9 lakh t India's natural rubber imports, 2023 to 2024
  • 27%, 25%, 18% shares of those imports from Indonesia, Vietnam and Côte d'Ivoire

Kerala produced about 609,600 t in 2023 to 2024, though its share has fallen from about 79% in 2014 to 2015. Domestic stocks fell from 4.4 to 3.7 lakh t over 2023 to 2024, and the tyre makers' association said consumers had no option but to rely more on imports to bridge the deficit.

Sources: Autocar Professional; Department of Commerce, Government of India

3. Planting support

Policy · High in India · Government and tyre makers fund new rubber planting

To cut import dependence, the Rubber Board runs a support scheme for natural rubber growers, and tyre makers are co-funding new plantations in the North East.

  • ₹708.69 crore outlay for the Rubber Board scheme, 2024 to 2025 and 2025 to 2026
  • 150,915 ha area planted in the North East by August 2025, against a 2 lakh ha goal

The North East project is run by the Rubber Board with the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association. Rubber trees take several years before they can be tapped, so new planting adds supply only slowly and imports will stay necessary in the meantime.

Sources: Parliament of India; Department of Commerce, Government of India

For investors

Key learnings

  1. India imports over a third of the natural rubber it uses, much of it for tyres, so world rubber prices and the rupee matter to tyre makers' margins as much as Kerala's harvest.
  2. The domestic shortfall has persisted, about 5.7 lakh t in 2023 to 2024 and 5.4 lakh t in 2024 to 2025, so imports are a structural feature, not a one-off.
  3. North East planting backed by tyre makers will add supply only as trees mature, so it is a long-term hedge rather than near-term relief.

What to track

  • Kottayam RSS-4 price against Bangkok RSS-3 price: A wide domestic premium raises tyre makers' costs and pushes imports (Daily · Rubber Board)
  • India's natural rubber imports and stocks: Falling stocks and rising imports signal tighter supply for tyre makers (Monthly · Rubber Board)
  • Tyre makers' raw material cost as a share of sales: Shows how far rubber price changes are being passed on (Quarterly · company results)

For policymakers

Key learnings

  1. India's natural rubber deficit, about 38% of consumption in 2024 to 2025, ties tyre industry costs to imports from Indonesia, Vietnam and Côte d'Ivoire.
  2. Kerala's falling share of national output shows planting is spreading, which reduces regional weather risk but needs continued support for new areas.
  3. Planting schemes balance growers' incomes against tyre makers' need for affordable rubber, so import duty and planting policy should be read together.

What to track

  • Area planted and tapped under Rubber Board and North East schemes: Shows how quickly domestic supply can grow (Annual · Rubber Board, Ministry of Commerce)
  • Natural rubber production and consumption gap: A narrowing gap reduces import dependence (Monthly · Rubber Board)

India

India produced 8.75 lakh t of natural rubber against consumption of 14.10 lakh t in 2024 to 2025; Kerala grows about 71% of the domestic crop, and the rest of demand is met by imports, mainly from Indonesia, Vietnam and Côte d'Ivoire.

Sources

  1. Plastic and rubber products: materials, Material Insights (2026)
  2. Lok Sabha unstarred question 2649 on natural rubber (Ministry of Commerce and Industry reply), Parliament of India (2025)
  3. Tyre industry flags insufficient availability of natural rubber, Autocar Professional (2024)
  4. Lok Sabha unstarred question 3520, 17 December 2024 (Ministry of Commerce and Industry reply), Department of Commerce, Government of India (2024)