“Transportation of rubber and rubber sheets outside the hilly north-eastern region is a big bottleneck. Ferrying of the natural rubber through Bangladesh or exporting it to the neighbouring country is not possible due to various restrictions imposed by the Bangladesh government. “The Bangladesh government only allowed transportation of raw rubber (latex) not in the form of sheets through their country or to export. Technically, carrying or export of raw rubber is very difficult,” an official of the Industries and Commerce Department told IANS.

Rubber Board officials said the seven north-eastern states cultivating rubber over 1,90,000 hectares annually produced 1,11,700 tonne natural rubber. According to the Board officials, after Tripura, Assam is cultivating natural rubber in 58,000 hectare area and produces 31,000 tonne rubber annually, followed by Meghalaya with 17,000 hectares and producing 9,500 tonne, Nagaland’s 15,000 hectares producing 6,100 tonne and Manipur’s 4,200 hectares producing 2,000 tonne.