March 12, 2021
The corrugated box manufacturing units in eastern India is going for voluntary shutdown from 11 to 13 March, opposing the increasing prices of Kraft paper and boards.
The corrugated box makers want to create awareness for the government and consumers of the unabated rise in the prices of the raw materials used for making such boxes. Manufacturing corrugated boxes, which are indispensable for packaging of medicines, sweets and confectioneries, food and other products, came under the essential services category as announced by the government during the lockdown.
The daily business of corrugated boxes is worth Rs. 5.5 crore in eastern India and Rs. 2.5 crore in West Bengal.
Soumitra Choudhary, managing committee member of Eastern India Corrugated Box Manufacturers’ Association said, “Being a part of the essential services, we kept the supply chain of corrugated boxes alive without any intention to rake in profits. Still, it is a much neglected industrial segment. The problem started in the unlocking phase. Kraft paper and board prices are going through the roof since November last year.
Kraft paper, an essential ingredient for making corrugated boxes used to cost around Rs. 25,000 per tonne before the lockdown and now the price has touched around Rs. 43,000 and is sky-rocketing almost every day.
Apart from Kraft paper and boards, other ingredients including steel stitching wire, starch, transportation, and labour have also witnessed an unprecedented cost escalation, thereby having increased the conversion cost by 40% to 50%.
The annual revenue earned by the corrugated box industry comprising MSME entrepreneurs is around Rs 2,000 crore last year. “The situation is very tough and unfavorable for our survival. The paper mills should stabilize the price of the raw materials. We want the government to take a call on the issue,” said Choudhary.