The Indian wood panel and decorative industry is growing at a steady pace during FY 2024-25. However, it seems to be growing at a tad slower pace than expected as it has been perceived that the plywood segment recorded muted growth except for a few brands that reported 4-5% growth more or less. The Aluminum composite panel and door & door frame solution industry also noted a growth of around 11% and 16% growth respectively. In MDF space as well the supply shot up significantly during the last FY but the consumption remained feeble.
Talking about Particle Board, the struggle is prolonged, however the industry is hopeful that demand for PB will surge in this financial year because new capacity addition has almost ceased and PB segment stands at a very reasonable price point which is likely to attract the furniture producer in India. After BIS- QCO implementation on Plywood, MDF and PB, the inclination of furniture producers and OEMs is likely to grow towards Particle Boards as it provides the most affordable substrate for furniture makers. I am of notion that plywood demand is likely to spike post QCO enforcement which has already been brought in by the government in February this year.
We have already seen the downfall in the arrival of plywood from Vietnam and Nepal. The same is applied for furniture fittings and hardware segment. Telescopic slides, hinge etc are seeing rise in demand from domestic producers. Although few factories from countries abroad are approaching BIS, in the hope to be surveyed on quality parameters in their plant, yet the Indian market is anticipating that dumping of cheap material will witness a receding trend at international borders post QCO enforcement.
As Dollar strengths, the price of imported goods have also seen upward trends by 3-4%, hence overall, the prospect of better demand for Indigenously made plywood, PB, MDF and other panel products is not a far-fetched thought anymore.
On the contrary, due to rise in MDF capacity, the inferior quality green color MDF board, (which is not HD but kind of dipping grade of Plywood or duplicate PF ply or look alike BWR plywood), which is sold as Phenolic water proof material, supplies soared in markets resulting to fast spread of just Hara board MDF. Now with BIS in place, such kinds of substandard materials will come under BIS surveillance and be seized in the interest of establishing fair trade practice. It is also the collective responsibility of authentic producers and quality retailers to become the torch bearers and alter BIS about any such illicit practices.
I firmly believe that FY 2025-26 will be favorable for those companies that don't flinch in putting investment and efforts in marketing and sales. It has been observed that most of the companies are adding up large capacity and up skilling their sales and marketing team to enhance the networking and exploring new market avenues. I believe that no matter how much noise is made with negativity and slowdown, India is on a solid ground to capture export markets in US. The furniture category is set to gain if efficiency and quality in India is taken care of. Now the path for us and our entire media platform at Ply Reporter & Matecia is to create positivity with right knowledge and market information along with new products and design updates that offers ray of hope for growth and abundance. I pray for full blown growth for the entire wood panel decorative and furniture industry in FY 25-26 with onset of many new products boom time including wall paneling, ceiling soffit solutions and flooring products.
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Pragat Dvivedi, Founder Editor