Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Raw material prices worry manufacturers

COIMBATORE: The small and medium-scale manufacturing industries here are concerned about the increasing iron and steel prices, according to president of the Coimbatore District Small Industries Association K. Ilango.

He told The Hindu here on Monday that prices of iron, steel and by-products went up by nearly Rs. 3,000 a tonne since January this year.

The prices were expected to increase by another Rs. 2,000 and hence the materials were not available in the market.

Prices of copper and aluminium were also moving up, but at a slower rate. In the case of iron and steel, there was a sudden spurt of prices. The raw materials were used in all sectors – construction, capital goods manufacturing and engineering units.

The small and medium-scale units had no option but to buy from local traders. With no regulation on speculation and spiralling prices, stocks of these materials were not readily available in the market.

Mr. Ilango said the market was good and customers were ready to accept slight increase in prices.

However, the manufacturers would not be able to negotiate prices after arriving at an agreement.

The frequent increase in raw material prices affected the manufacturing cost as the producers were unable to change the prices they had quoted to the customers. Most of the manufacturing units here were operating to the full capacity and raw material costs should not derail the growth, he said.

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