Demand for fire crackers dips

BANGALORE: Greater awareness on environment, rising prices of fire crackers and constant cracker-free Diwali campaigns have severely hit the demand for fire crackers which is likely to drop by about 35 to 40 per cent during this year, according to a just concluded survey by the Associate Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM).ASSOCHAM interacted with about 250 fire cracker manufacturers at Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu and about 500 fireworks’ dealers, traders, shopkeepers and retailers at Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai and Pune at various wholesale and retail markets between September and October 15 for survey.It identified increase in fuel prices, road freight, escalating raw material (sulphur, potassium nitrate and waste paper) prices due to shortage, rising wages and lack of skilled labour, other miscellaneous levies and recent bomb blasts in the country as some of the reasons for the slump.“Due to escalating fuel prices, the road freight rates have also gone up with other operational costs. Besides, prices of tyres, lubricants and the wages of the drivers have also increased significantly and all these issues are going to impact margins of the firecracker industry,” D S Rawat, Secretary General of ASSOCHAM said.The domestic firecracker industry is estimated at about Rs 1,200 crore and Sivakasi is home to over 9,500 fire cracker factories and produces almost 100 per cent of total fireworks output in India. The industry employs about 1.5 lakh people including the organised and unorganised sector, the ASSOCHAM stated.Nearly 55 per cent of fire cracker manufacturers and wholesalers in Sivakasi said there has been a drop of about 15 per cent in orders from northern states which consume over 75 per cent of total fireworks produced, they said.