Cooking Pongal in a newly decorated clay pot on the morning of harvest festival, Pongal, is a custom followed by many in the state. But, this year could be quite different, for most of the potters in the city are seeing reduced sales even on the eve of the auspicious day.

Usha Vadivel, a second generation potter, said her shop is witnessing an all-time low in the sale of pots. “By this time, last year, I had sold 1000-1500 pots. But, so far, I have sold only 100-150,” she said. Most of the people have put off buying new pots as they have already spent lot of money on their home needs, she added.

Rendered homeless The morale of the people is low following heavy rains and extensive flooding of Chennai and neighbouring districts last month which displaced lakhs from their homes. Many lost their belongings, including household appliances, in the floods which also rendered many homeless.

Vadivel, who owns two pottery units, says the December deluge had damaged most of the raw material, clay and finished products. “The total loss of material and damage to the infrastructure account for about ₹6 lakh,” she added.

Procurement of clay Clay for making Pongal merchandise is bought from Manamadurai as they cannot procure it from Periyapalayam and Mambakkam in the city. “We have increased the price of each item by ₹20 as the transportation charge is high,” Vadivel said.

Arasu, a potter with Mayan arts and potteries, did not make clay pots this year owing to unavailability of raw material. “I have already incurred a loss of ₹1 lakh as there were no sales in the last three months,” he said. Arasu has sustained material loss as well since kilns used for burning are wet breaking the pots during the process.

Wastage woes While manufacturers are suffering from woes of wastage and procurement of raw material, dealers and traders are seeing a steep cut in profit. SK Govindasamy, a dealer and trader of clay pots, said he would be seeing a profit of only 20 per cent this year as opposed to 35-40 per cent last year. “As most of the potters in the city are unable to make earthen wares, there has been an increased demand for products from Madurai and Villupuram,” he said.

Most of the people exporting clay goods have increased the pricing by ₹20 each and adding the cost of transportation, the dealers are unable to see profit. Govindasamy usually buys a pot for ₹50 but, this year, the cost has gone up to ₹80.

Another dealer Parimala S, who has been running the business for the past 50 years, said the sale this year had been the worst and she had sold hardly 30 so far. “While the price for obtaining the wares is high, I’m still selling at last year’s price at ₹50 each suffering a loss of ₹20-30 for each product that is sold,” she added.

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