text: Indian rubber demand seen outstripping production . SINGAPORE 1996-12-06 Indian rubber demand is seen outpacing local production in the 1996/97 April / March season and the trend will persist way into the next century , the chairman of the Rubber Board of India said on Friday . K.J. Matthew said at the Asia Rubber Markets meeting here Indian production of natural rubber in 1996/97 will reach 547,000 tonnes against projected demand of 578,000 tonnes , a gap of 31,000 tonnes . For synthetic rubber , production reached 68,200 tonnes in 1995/96 while consumption in the same season hit 134,085 tonnes , Matthew added . " Though schemes designed to realise further increases in the production of natural rubber are being operated successfully , the demand-supply gap is expected to widen , " he said . Indian synthetic rubber output is not expected to rise significantly in the next season but demand will rise to 145,000 tonnes . Matthew estimates that by the 2000/01 season , the gap between natural rubber output and consumption will rise to 51,000 tonnes and 319,000 tonnes in 2010/11 . Natural rubber production will go up to 695,000 tonnes in 2000/01 against consumption of 746,000 tonnes . In 2010/11 , domestic demand should rise further to 1.233 million tonnes while production will only reach about 914,000 tonnes . One way to bridge the widening gap is to put more land under cultivation which the Rubber Board official estimates will reach 220,000 hectares between now and the year 2003 although Matthew said this may not be possible at this time in India . " The development objective for the rubber plantation industry will be to increase production to the best extent possibly with a view to minimising imports of natural rubber , " he said . -- Singapore Newsroom ( 65-8703305 )