According to K.N.Raghavan, the Board's Executive Director, the Rubber Board's goal for the next 25 years is to quadruple India's export of rubber goods from the current earnings of 25,000 crores.
"It is the Rubber Board's responsibility to assist exporters, particularly those in the MSME sector, in any way possible," he said during the commissioning of the Advanced Analysis Laboratory for Rubber Products at the Rubber Research Institute of India.
The facility is equipped to test hazardous chemicals in accordance with European Union and other developed countries' stringent standards.
He stated that exporting rubber products to European markets is difficult due to the stringent regulatory standards under the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulations, which include plasticizers, extenders, accelerators, cross-linking agents, resins, antioxidants, colouring agents, reclaimed rubber, and so on.
The new advanced laboratory facility will allow exporters to conduct independent third-party testing of rubber products for REACH compliance, as well as MSME manufacturers to design REACH compliant product formulations.
"Recent years have seen the western world continuously upgrading the parameters for the presence of materials hazardous/toxic to human body and environment, which exporters are required to keep pace with," he said.
Global Standards
The Board's goal is to bring the entire rubber value chain up to international standards. This included promoting India as the world's rubber product manufacturing hub and promoting sustainable natural rubber cultivation. More than 40,000 products are made from natural rubber around the world, but only 10,000 are made in India, according to the Executive Director.
Though the Board's primary goal is to increase production and productivity, it also addresses the concerns of the manufacturing industry, particularly the non-tyre sector, which currently accounts for less than 30% of rubber consumption but earns an equal percentage of the country's revenue from the export of rubber-based goods.
REACH limits and regulates the use of polycyclic aromatics (PCA) and substances of very high concern (SVHC) in rubber products.
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