Nearly 400 corrugated box manufacturers in Tirupur, and its nearby districts have stopped the production for four days from Thursday due to the functional crisis prevailing in the sector.
These units on a normal working day produce about 1,300 tonnes of corrugated boxes valued at about ₹ 7 crore depending on the grade of paper used and the printing on the boxes.
Reason
“We decided to stop production, as paper mills, which supply kraft paper – the main raw material – have stopped production. The move was also to draw the attention of the government authorities to the crisis prevailing in the corrugated box manufacturing sector,” said S. K. Ramasamy, president (western region of Tamil Nadu) of South India Corrugated Box Manufacturers Association.
The manufacturers wanted the government to view their problems in a holistic manner.
The shortage faced by paper mills in getting their raw material of wood pulp and corrugated box wastes, and the increase in price of those materials are leading to a raise in prices of corrugated boxes.
“Though we have recently increased the prices of corrugated boxes after the kraft paper prices went up. The government should consider bringing down the import duty of wood pulp and corrugated box wastes to control kraft paper prices,” said E.V. Radhakrishnan, a senior member of the Corrugated Box Manufacturers Association.
