The Plywood industry has noted merely 60-65% capacity utilization in November month due to shortage of labour in their units. The festivals like Diwali, Chhatth along with marriage season, witnessed exit of workers to their towns. The migrant labourer flew to their native places. In fact they started migrating from the beginning of November month. A contractor from Yamuna Nagar says that it is a yearly phenomenon that the laborers go home during this time, and they stay at least 20-30 days at their native places.
The Ply Reporter findings pointed that labour shortage is being felt across wood panel industries located in Haryana, Punjab, UP, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh etc. A Plywood manufacturer from Ludhiana says that he is unable to produce materials due to labour shortage, and he has pending orders of 30 days. He expects that the migrant labourer may arrive from December month, because they engaged in paddy harvesting and marriage till the first week of December.
Industry hopes to improve its capacity utilization in December and January month, because the softening of raw materials prices may help them to compensate for the loss of previous months. Contractors are of view that, the arrival of labour is looking very close to start. Ticket bookings are being done to start from Orissa, Assam, Bihar, Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, and Industry would have sufficient manpower available from December onward months.