Cauvery dispute with Karnataka in September has led to a huge pile-up of match box bundles at units in the Kovilpatti region.
M. Paramasivam, president, National Small Match Manufacturers’ Association, Kovilpatti, told The Hindu on Thursday that since match box bundles could not be transported to Karnataka and beyond when a tense situation prevailed in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka on account of dispute over sharing of Cauvery rive waters, there was a huge pile up of safety match boxes in the units.
To make matters worse, there was a slump in the export market as well.
Only four days ago, goods transport to Karnataka resumed. But since the market was not enterprising enough, the producers could not even provide Deepavali bonus to their workers, he said.
Mr. Paramasivam also attributed the slump in the market to emergence of semi- mechanised production units in northern States.
But J. Devadoss, secretary, South India Match Manufacturers’ Association, Kovilpatti, said units in the northern States could never make a dent in the huge market of the Kovilpatti match units. About 50 to 60 lorries would normally transport match box consignments from Kovilpatti to destinations across the country. A lorry could transport 3,500 bundles of 600 match stick boxes each. On an average, two lakh bundles would be sold every day. Export trade declined by 15 per cent over the previous year, he said.
D. Krishnamurthy, an exporter from Kovilpatti, said there was a slump in the global market as supply was more than the demand. Currency devaluation in Africa also contributed to the glut in market, he said.
Dollar vs. Naira
Sources in the shipping industry said there were regular shipments to Nigeria. Earlier, value of a dollar fluctuated between 200 and 250 Naira, the Nigerian currency. But, now, it was 470 Naira. Normally, 180 to 190 containers of match box bundles would be shipped to African countries in a month, but this year the shipments dwindled to 140 containers.
Emergence of semi- mechanised production units in northern States has also led to a pile-up
