Trend in rubber price and marketing of natural rubber in Kanyakumari District

Rubber produced as a fibre, sometimes called ‘elastic’, had significant value to the textile industry because of its excellent elongation and recovery properties. Among the major rubber growing states in India, Tamil Nadu enjoys the pride of place both in the area under cultivation and the production of rubber. The Rubber sheet prices continue to rule low as a result of the increasing competition in the rubber market. The present study was aimed to analyse the trend in the price, and marketing of natural rubber in the Kanyakumari district. A multistage sampling technique was adopted to select the study area and120 respondents were randomly selected. The collected data were analysedby using the tools viz., growth rate, seasonal price index, price spread, and Garrett's ranking technique. The study concluded that price has a positive growth rate despite a decline in price. The decomposition analysis witnessed a seasonal price fluctuation in rubber prices. The Seasonal price Index varies from 94 per cent to 104 per cent of the monthly rubber prices. The model forecasted the rubber price in a negative growth on par with the current year price, marketed in the form of latex and rubber sheet. Itidentified one channel for latex and four channels for rubber sheet. In all the channels, producer's share in consumer's rupee was around 90 per cent which was highest when compared to other agricultural commodities.