The Hindu Business Line : Slow sales dampen cheer of fireworks dealers in twin cities

Hyderabad, Oct. 26 With just over a day to go before the festival of lights, Diwali, there is not much joy for those who have set up cracker shops across the twin cities as sales have not picked up as desired.

“It is a bit early to comment or quantify the decline in sales. A clearer picture will only emerge by Tuesday, the day of the festival,” Mr J. Manik Rao, General Secretary, Fireworks Dealers Association of Andhra Pradesh, told Business Line on Sunday.

Three festivals — Dusshera, Ramzan and now Diwali — which have all come in the same month, have also had an impact on cracker sales. Adding to the decline in sales is the phenomenal increase in the cost of crackers.

Price tab

Mr Rao said that average increase in cost is around 20 to 30 per cent against the usually hike of five to seven per cent witnessed in the earlier years. At the retail level, prices have gone up by at least 30 per cent over the last year

As one dealer in Secunderabad said, “The price of a ‘1,000-walla ladi’, a favourite cracker, has gone up from Rs 175 to nearly Rs 250 this year, and the all-time favourite with kids — cracker rolls — has seen a rise of between Rs 20-Rs 30 per packet.”

“We have also imported a lot of stock but are worried about sales given the cost factor,” said another dealer.

Wholesale outlets

This year has also seen a number of large wholesale outlets coming up across the city along with the usual small outlets in various colonies.

“This format is very convenient. In supermarkets, buyers can pick up a trolley, go to the specific section and buy what they want,” Mr J. Subramanyam, an employee with a private firm, said at a wholesale outlet in Secunderabad.

Worker wages

Mr Rao said that the abnormal increase in cracker prices is not just due to the increase in raw material costs but also because worker wages have gone up significantly.

Many labourers working at Sivakasi — which produces nearly 90 per cent of the country’s firecrackers — had to either engage labour at a higher price or produce lesser stocks despite a huge festive demand because workers have left to join nearby spinning mills.

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