All India Plywood Manufacturers’ Association (AIPMA), President, Mr Devender Chawla recently visited Ply Reporter Studio, New Delhi. In conversation with the Ply Reporter – the mouth-piece of wood panel industry and trade in India, he talked about the industry scenario at length. In a nut cell in this conversation he conveyed that the future of plywood is bright and there is no alternative to the calibrated plywood in the industry. In coming times the calibrated plywood and shuttering plywood will be doing great and its growth is inevitable with ample opportunities coming at domestic level as well as international front for exports. To grab that opportunity the industry players need to continue to offer the quality products.
How is the present scenario of the industry?
After covid the industry's beginning was a good start, but after Diwali and Chhath with rising pollution and restrictions on sands in many states the construction was on hold. Secondly the price rise in chemical, timber and other raw materials along with labor shortage forced the industry players to take a back seat. But, I think in the coming time the construction work will start at a faster pace and the shuttering ply demand will accelerate.
The raw material prices have started softening; do you see any price correction to come into the plywood segment?
There is a big difference in laminate and plywood. In the laminate sector the basic raw materials are chemical or chemical based such as melamine, formalin, phenol, etc. Although some chemicals are used in plywood manufacturing also, apart from that the big volume consumption in this sector is wood as raw material. Its prices had also risen up at faster pace putting the industry into pressure as the ready products price did not increase in that way. Now, with easing up the price of wood the industry is having some respite, and there is no big change in margin after softening the price of raw materials for plywood manufacturing. So, I don’t think the price of plywood will drop in the near future.
There was news that a large number of plywood factories are closing in Yamunanagar and the industry fraternity is in deep distress. What is the actual scenario?
In Yamunanagar there are 400 industries. Those who are doing well and running fast are making a place for themselves in the country. There was a perception that Yamunanagar ply is of low quality, but if you see today the calibrated ply is being manufactured in large volume in Yamunanagar and more and more industries are coming in this sector. We tried and entered it and did very well. So, those who are moving forward as an industry are still growing. There are some industry players who are facing constraint situations. They may have several issues such as fund, marketing or labor issues.
Is it true that 150 industries have their shutter down?
No! This is not the case, but definitely some of them are facing the threat of being closed down, some are facing challenges being in a weaker position and some of them have dropped their production. The closer are nothing, there may be change in ownership but no one is closed.
With rising production of MDF, people are saying that the economical grade plywood market will be eaten by MDF. What do you think?
This is an industry grapevine that puts industry people as well as the customers in a state of confusion. Initially MDF attracted people's attention due to its smooth surface and adding color and change in certain features the marketing gimmick are still playing their own ways. I would like to say that what strength is in Plywood cannot be found in MDF and other similar kinds of products. For example the Marine plywood with advanced and upgraded core composers, the calibrated plywood surface is like a glass with no variation in thickness or gap.
With its strength and applicability MDF doesn't even stand anywhere. In coming times there would be large volume production with a lot of new players coming into this segment giving the industry world class plywood solutions. It will remove the tagline of cheaper grade production in the region. You can see there are many players manufacturing calibrated plywood. In UP also a large number of players have some or continuously coming up in this segment. So, MDF is not a big issue.
So, please elaborate with the comparison with MDF and calibrated plywood?
If you take a full calibrated 19 mm ply and with similar thickness of MDF, the strength of plywood is far better than that of MDF with economical price factor, then how it can be compared with one another. Homes are made once in a lifetime, so people like to use quality products that last for longer time and today what the calibrated ply is available are of good quality, high strength and without any thickness variation and core gap. It is full core plywood with a lot of features like water proofing, etc.
You can see in the coming time that numerous players based in the north, which is a plywood hub in the country, will be exporting such plywood at larger scale. Seeing the opportunity many more people are heading towards this direction.
I would like to say that what strength is in Plywood cannot be found in MDF and other similar kinds of products. For example the Marine plywood with advanced and upgraded core composers, the calibrated plywood surface is like a glass with no variation in thickness or gap.
So, in terms of calibrated plywood the industry is going to contribute far better growth opportunities. Secondly, besides the calibrated solution the industry is having E0 chemical giving us an international standard. Like in Europe and other countries we can export with this feature in our plywood. So, we have a range, feature for exporting our plywood to different countries. You can see in the coming time that numerous players based in the north, which is a plywood hub in the country, will be exporting such plywood at larger scale. Seeing the opportunity many more people are heading towards this direction.
What is your opinion about Ply Reporter?
The team Ply Reporter service to the industry in terms of creating awareness, educating the market is a commendable job. I would like to thank the team Ply Reporter with Mr Pragath Dvivedi, and Mr Rajiv Parashar for their coordination with the industry with knowledge of marketing and sharing them with the industry people is priceless. I feel happy coming to the office of Ply Reporter.