History Of Rubber Industry And Kerala’s Contribution To The Rubber Industry

Rubber is of great use to humans and thus is critical from the perspective of economics. As humankind progresses so is the need for more rubber products. The use of natural rubber in heavy industries is well known to all but equally important is the use of it in our daily life for kitchen and household products. For many countries, it is significant as their livelihood depends on it as it provides employment. But have you queried about the history of rubber?

Early use of rubber: Rubber trees have been around for a long time. The Red Indians called it Caoutchouc or the ‘crying tree’. They called it a crying tree as when it is cut sheds natural latex. They started using it to make products for their kitchen like bowls, bottle, etc. They also began making shoes out of it. A group of Europeans who before leaving to their homes from South America got some rubber pieces from the city of Para. When at home, they rubbed a trace of pencil from paper and that got erased, and that is how they found the now hugely popular rubber.

Rubber in India: The British introduced this plant to India when they ruled the country. India is now among the top few natural rubber producing countries and the Indian state of Kerala os the top producer of rubber in the country. The regions of Idanaadu and Malannadu produce more rubber than any other areas in the state. Slowly, rubber plantation is replacing the coconut plants in the fields of Kerala as the yield is better and they get better income out of it. There are many research centers in the state which is are conducting studies to bring out good plantations that can give better yield.It is not only an excellent income for growers but also to the industries which manufacture products. These companies use the best POS software to keep track of the inventory and other details. But of late, many other states have started growing this plant to get better results. Read https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/agri-business/why-kerala-is-losing-its-grip-on-rubber/article9887429.ece. Not just India, many other countries are also looking at improvements and expansion in this sector as many industries are dependant on this product.

Use of Rubber: There is a lot of research going on for the use of rubber, and there is a huge market in Europe which is on the rise. Natural latex is used by the people of Europe to make a lot of products like a raincoat, seals for engines, manufacturing sheets of rubber, footwear, toys, equipment for medical industry. There is an excellent demand in the transport sector, and there is an urge for the rubber industry to produce more as there is growing need for it. Even the aviation industry uses rubber as they need tires which is of high quality and specific to that industry. The rubber tree is very versatile as once they stop producing natural latex, they can then be used to make furniture. There are other uses of rubber too like shoes, eraser, balloons, equipment for sports, lifeguards on ships, aircraft, etc.

Read More : An Insight Into Indian Rubber Industries