The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Prices of crackers skyrocket

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Saturday, Oct 18, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Prices of crackers skyrocket

M. Srinivas

— Photo: G. Krishnaswamy

Gloomy scenario: Escalating prices of crackers are bound to have an adverse impact on sales.

HYDERABAD: This Deepavali may prove to be a costly affair with prices of firecrackers registering an average rise of 20 to 30 per cent.

While every year, there is usually a price rise of five to seven per cent, the cost of even commonly used firecrackers have surged this year. The price of ‘1,000 walla ladi’ has jumped to Rs.250 from Rs.175 and cracker rolls, a favourite with kids, has seen a rise of Rs.20 per packet. The rate of a rocket packet has risen to Rs.150 as against Rs.125 last year.

Dealers are attributing this to increase in production cost and transportation charges coupled with labour shortage in Sivakasi, the hub of firecrackers production down South.

Many labourers working at Sivakasi left to work at nearby spinning mills. Manufacturing units in Sivakasi, producing 90 per cent of the country’s firecrackers, had to either engage labour at a higher price or produce lesser stocks despite huge festive demand, said Andhra Pradesh Firecrackers Dealers Association, General Secretary, J. Manik Rao.

Dealers said escalated prices could have an adverse impact on sales. Moreover, two festivals Dasara and Deepavali came in the same month leading to additional financial burden on customers. “We have imported loads of stock but are worried a lot about sales given the cost factor”, said a dealer Bandari Srinivas from Secunderabad.

The demand for fancy crackers compared to traditional ones is also mounting for the last couple of years. The price depends on number of functions a cracker has – like colour variety, dimension, crackling and whistle. The 1,000 rocket ‘blasting for almost 15 minutes in the sky’ and Graphics-180 rocket displaying colourful rays in the sky are most-sought after the fancy crackers.

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