Malchand & Sons Group, a leading producer of wood panels and plywood in India, has entered into face veneer manufacturing in Gabon and started its commercial production there. The plant has been set up in NKOK, SEZ spread in over 3 hectares of land. The production unit has installed capacity of 120 cubic meters per day. The Gabon operation of the company under Gabon Timber Industry ZERP, has achieved 50 percent capacity within a month of start of production. Initially, they have installed 3 peeling lines with dryers and other machineries but they have built an Infrastructure capacity in a way that they can handle input of 200 CBM per day and can supply 3 containers per day to India Market.
Talking to the Ply Reporter, the director of the company Mr. Anup Agarwal says, “Initially we have installed 3 peeling lines, among them one is of 10 ft. We are going to put 2 more peeling lines very soon because our infrastructure has been built accordingly. With 10 ft peeling line we mainly target to European market and in future it will feed India market as well for big size market development. From this operation we are able to supply 80% face veneer to India market and 20% to China, Vietnam, Europe, Nepal and other Asian countries. Presently we are producing 60 cbm per day and within a month it will reach to 100 cbm.
Stating about future plan of their Gabon operation, he says that in the current scenario it is a must to have a plywood manufacturing unit in Gabon to make full utilization of the timber as wood carries a great value within itself. Why waste it? He announces that the company will be definitely looking for putting plywood manufacturing units in second phase of expansion and GSEZ is also offering better facilities to those who want to put plywood manufacturing units.
Mr. Anup Agarwal is very much optimistic about his Gabonn operation and says that there are lots of opportunities for smooth business operation such as Safety as compared to other African countries, Availability of timber at your door steps within GSEZ, Single window system within GSEZ for import and export and banking transactions, Easy availability of man power for smooth functioning of factories, Medical facilities near to the factory for workers and many more. Talking about the challenges at Gabon he says that if challenges are not there in any business, we won’t be having the zest to be there. Few challenges are there but those will be overcome within a few months like transportation of containers from GSEZ to Port and availability of containers. He expects that by break bulk most of this will be resolved.
He also anticipates that In GSEZ, local people are getting skilled and in the coming future factories would be possible to run with less Indian staffs, hence there would be lots of local technical man power also in near future. On demand scenario of Okume Face Veneer in India, he assures that Indians should move on from Gurjan/ Keruing. Now it’s high time paying high prices for face veneer just to show that they are still using Gurjan veneer.
The rates for timber have reached to a peak now. Let’s teach people about Okoume and its availability. Okoume is an easy source which can cater the entire India market easily for the coming 30 to 40 years. Why always try and match Okoume colour with Gurjan? Accept it as it is! Now many of the major Indian manufacturers have started using and promoting Okoume because it is cost effective, easily available and viable as well.
Surat based Malchand & Sons Group is largely involved in manufacturing different range of plywood, shuttering ply and bagasse based particle boards with captive resin unit. Established in the year 1989 they are leading manufacturers of water proof plywood, film face plywood, pre-laminated board, MR hardwood plywood, BWR hardwood plywood, Bagasse based Particle Board, etc.