The state of Gujarat has been pioneer in few areas of manufacturing e.g HPL, PVC boards, Adhesives, ACP, Sawn timber and Tiles and Sanitary. The wood particle board industry of Gujarat also figures as a major share holder in the country. With more than two dozen lines producing particle board, the installed production capacity has crossed to 3500 cubic meters per day in this region, among them the most of the plants having 4 feet sizes boards manufacturing facilities, with a few with six feet board sizes. There are news of two new Particle Board plants coming up in Morbi and Rajkot, who will commence their commercial production in next couple of month.
The reason behind more and more particle boards units coming up in this region is due to illusion of easier availability of wood raw materials from saw mills. Gandhidham, India’s biggest saw mill cluster has around 3000 saw mills, who produce sawn timber waste, that present an opportunity for particle board manufacturer to source their raw material. Majority of saw mills process Pinewood which sizing and kerf waste is purchased by these plants. In addition to this, the units located in Saurashtra region have begun to receive good quantity of local Neelgiri wood as a raw material too that has helped the industry to flourish here.
Mr. Kanti Patel, Director of Realtouch Particle Board says, at present time, the units located in Morbi and Saurasthtra area procure adequate quantity of local timber but it is not so good throughout the year. He adds “We hardly find sufficient timber for running plants on 100 percent capacity with present installed capacity because of raw material issues mainly. It is anticipated that, if local wood supply improves, then few more plants will spring up in this area although there is a price war already for existing ones. The price of finished Particle board has bottomed during last 2 years and after this it would begin to go in minus’ says Mr. Patel.
As per Ply Reporter survey, the Gujarat based particle board plants are on an average, utilizing 60 percent of their installed capacity lately. According to the Ply Reporter’s study, the plants from this region mainly depend on Gujarat, Maharashtra, North India, Central and Eastern markets that too through retail counters. With around 25 plants in this region alone, It could be termed as a big hub for particle board units in India.