: Thursday, October 03, 2024 7:56 PM
Jaipur. The packaging and accessories industry is in trouble due to paper shortage. The increase in paper prices by paper mills is putting the entrepreneurs involved in the cardboard business at risk. In the era of competition, due to increase in paper prices, corrugated box manufacturers have become sandwiched between paper mills and customers. Recently, paper mills have increased the rates of kraft paper by about 20 to 25 percent. And this increase may continue in the coming times. Hemendra Agarwal, president, All Rajasthan Corrugated Board and Box Manufacturers Association, said several state-level associations have called emergency meetings to discuss the situation and plans are being made for alternative availability of kraft paper across the country. Deep concern has been expressed over the continuous increase in the prices of raw material kraft paper in the corrugated box industry in the state for the last 3 months. He said that this increase is not only raising questions on the survival of the industry, but it can also have far-reaching effects on the entire manufacturing sector and employment. Due to this, thousands of cartoon factories are getting trapped in serious financial crisis.
Aggarwal said that this increase is happening due to reduction in the supply of imported scrap OCC waste. The main reason for this is that even in the waste exporting European and American countries, paper has now started being made from OCC waste, earlier there paper was made only from agro base pulp material. Due to the arbitrariness of the shipping companies, there is a shortage of containers and the import freight has also increased. Therefore, paper mill owners are also helpless in providing any kind of support to the corrugated box industry in today’s scenario. The increase in prices by paper mill owners without any prior notice, demand for advance payment and supply of paper in 15-20 days has damaged the image of OCC waste manufacturers and relations with their customers. He said, “This increase is not only an economic crisis, but it is a direct attack on the sustainability of the industry and the livelihood of millions of its employees. Due to the crisis of this industry, major schemes like ‘Make in India’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ will also be affected. If this situation does not improve soon, the industry may face a serious crisis and about 1200 box industries of Rajasthan will get into serious economic crisis. The factories of many corrugated box manufacturers are on the verge of closure.
He urged the government and all the leading industrialists to take this matter seriously and appealed to find a solution.
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