Three-day shutdown by Baddi corrugation units

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, March 15

The Himachal Pradesh Corrugated Manufacturers Association has initiated a three-day shutdown in the Baddi, Parwanoo and other industrial clusters of the state today in protest against the spiraling cost of kraft paper, which is their basic raw material.

The association members who assembled in the industrial clusters of Baddi today said, “We will neither make any dispatch nor will unload any vehicle carrying raw material as production has been totally halted. The customers should bear at least 25 per cent increase in the price of corrugation boxes and the paper mills manufacturing the kraft paper should decrease its price considerably to ensure viability for the corrugation box manufacturers”, informed Surinder Jain, association’s president.

This is the second shut-down in the industry since December 2020. The spiraling price of kraft paper has not been checked after the Covid-induced lockdown as the price of its raw material has registered a steep hike.

The association members said various states will shut down their manufacturing in a phased manner across the region as the situation has brought the industry on the brink of closure.

“The cost of kraft paper, which is used to make packaging boxes, has registered an increase of 70 to 80 per cent in the last four months and we have failed to get the due conversion cost from the industries,” said Jain.