The particle board industry witnessed a better pickup during February. After a dull patch, particle board segment is now looking at improved demand from last two months. The Ply Reporter study indicates that the demand has improved marginally, but the sentiment looks promising. Reports from OEM segment suggest that the demand will improve more in the near future. The sentiment turned positive after four months of sluggishness in demand of particle board and subsequently prices for finished boards touched bottom.
The reason for the steep fall has been blamed to rising import with falling freight prices. The particle board industry is undergoing uncertainty with frequent rise in timber cost as well as growing number of manufacturing plants across country. The demand post covid scenario attributed to good gains for particle board manufacturing. Following which many plants are queuing up since Last year.
Currently particle board plants have very good presence in Gujarat and Maharashtra. Later in south India, Keralabased industries have emerged as another particle board hub in India, with nearly 10 manufacturing units; a number of units are in process of installation. Each of them has a production capacity of nearly 150 to 200 cubic meter per day. With all recent development Kerala Particle Board now has reached a daily capacity of 1500 or 2000 cubic meter.
For the last four months before January 2023, the piledup production was a burden for the manufacturers, which has led to an increase in demand for Particle board across the country. Now, with rising demand supported by OEMs and ready-made furniture manufacturing, the stocks of particle board has been reduced everywhere. The industry is observing some relief, as reports from Gujarat, Maharashtra, UP, and Southern India indicate. Although the price has not increased, the material is being sold at its old cost due to competition.