Tamil Nadu

Mosquito net units in doldrums

KARUR: Rising prices cause upheaval not just in families but also in industries, only to let the effect percolate down to the last man working in the particular unit or industry. The situation turns dicey if the industry used as raw material substances that have a varying and unpredictable sale price.

The condition worsens if the raw material is a petroleum product and the woes compound if the product is sold in a monopoly-like market.

Precisely that is the problem, the High Density Poly Ethylene (HDPE) monofilament yarn and fabric manufacturers in Karur, face today.

HDPE filament and fabric manufacturers had over the past few decades established a name for themselves in Karur, putting the industrial town in the international map for the product.

While the product is mostly consumed in the domestic market, a couple of units have also made forays in the international destinations such as Denmark and South Africa.

Fluctuating price and unpredictable nature of the supply of HDPE granules, unstable power situation, rise in fuel prices, increasing cost of transportation, higher cost of labour and its relative unavailability, dull market forced by unpredictable purchase price of the finished product, all have combined to rock the very bottom of the HDPE units here.

In Karur, there are over 75 extruders of HDPE, utilising over 1,100 tonnes of granules a month. They manufacture HDPE filament from the raw material, the price of which has risen in recent times.

They feed around 3,000 knitting looms where the filament is knitted into fabric for mosquito and fishing nets.

Their use gradually spread to cattle farms and in the making of tree guards. A lot of firms from the North buy the product.

The heydays of the HDPE industry lasted till the late 90s.

Dwindling market and the inability of the industry to adapt to the changing situation, price under cutting among the units and such other factors has taken a toll of the industry.

“The price of the HDPE granules rose from around Rs. 70 per kg about two years back to Rs. 80 last year and now it stands at Rs. 105 a kg.

It depends, naturally, on the petroleum price in the international market and you can very well imagine our plight,” points out the president of the Karur HDPE Monofilament Yarn and Fabric Manufacturers Association and former MLA, A.R. Malayappasamy.

“Moreover, the units are faced with a continuous process in the manufacturing chain and any power cut directly affects production. Rising price of diesel and oil in the past year has added to our misery as even two to four hours of operations of a generator set turns out to be a costly business ,” says association treasurer, K. Mahalingam.

Cost of labour has also gone up while its availability has come down, observes secretary, K. Karunanidhi.

The units have to dispatch vehicles or turn to labour contractors to fetch manual labour from as far as 50 km away, he adds.

“We used to pay Rs. 80 per day, per labourer, two years back. Now we scarcely get labourers for even Rs. 150 a day,” Mr. Karunanidhi says.

The industry employs around 30,000 men and women, and most of them are unskilled labourers.

The HDPE industry faces stiff competition from the textile export industry in hiring labourers and usually it is the latter that triumphs because of higher wage disbursal, courtesy the returns.

Transportation of men and material has become dearer and everything adds up to the already strained cost of manufacturing.

Any small variation or miscalculation would land the unit in deep trouble, echo industry people.

A couple of units have started exporting finished products such as insecticide treated HDPE net to Denmark and South Africa but the prospects have to be explored, industry watchers say.

“At a time when all around us prices are increasing and our overheads are in no way coming down, the HDPE industry is struggling to retain its hold as a profitable venture.

We expect the Central and State governments to come to our rescue as we hope that the market forces would settle at stable and acceptable levels in the days ahead.

Else, the present slump we are facing would further drain our already dwindling resources,” says Mr. Malayappasamy.

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