Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Monday, Dec 15, 2003
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Monday, Dec 15, 2003 |
|
|
|
|
|
Industry & Economy
-
Bearings, Castings & Forgings Bengal foundries seek lower pig iron prices Our Bureau
Kolkata , Dec. 14 THE foundry industry has urged the West Bengal Government to intervene and reduce the prices of pig iron which were causing hardship to the industry. But the State Government has washed its hands off the issue stating that the prices are decided by market forces, according to Mr Amal Banerjee, outgoing Chairman of Indian Foundry Association. Pig iron prices have increased ten times in the last 12 months. It has shot up from Rs 7,575 per tonne to Rs 11,800 per tonne, he said. Addressing the 52nd annual general meeting of the association here, he said, in the past, prices used to increase once or twice in a year but now prices were increasing almost every week. "My experience says that the pig iron producers in the private sector with support from a major public sector producer has formed a cartel. They often meet, make a quick assessment of the market situation and hike the prices arbitrarily," Mr Banerjee said. It may be noted that pig iron is the basic raw material for the foundry industry and its major products are industrial casting and sanitary castings. Representatives of the associations held several meetings with the State Government and sought its intervention. Mr Nirupam Sen, West Bengal Minister for Commerce and Industry, who was present at the meeting, confirmed his awareness of the problem but added that the Government was yet to take a "tangible decision" on the matter. Instead, he assured the foundry industry that several new pig iron producers were setting up production units in West Bengal. Mr Sen hoped that once the new producers start manufacturing there would be an adequate supply of pig iron in the market. At present, there are 400 foundries in West Bengal, of which 80 per cent are in the small-scale sector. Currently, 250 are operational but the whole industry is running registering 50 per cent capacity utilisation only. During 2002-03, the industry exported Rs 1038.44 crore worth of industrial castings and Rs 609.20 crore of sanitary castings against Rs 879.54 crore and Rs 523.33 crore respectively in 2001-02. The major markets are Europe, Australia and the US. Most of the foundries in West Bengal are located in the district of Howrah. A number of these units were closed down by the State Pollution Control Board. To relocate these units, the association has identified some land and hopes to set up a foundry park.
Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication
|
Stories in this Section |
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | The Hindu eBooks | Home |
Copyright © 2003, The
Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu Business Line
|