The consistent increase in the dollar rates against Indian rupees over the last two months has begun to impact the wood panel and surface décor businesses in India because of the hike in import prices of the timber, Veneers and other raw materials in India.
India plywood and panel product industry imports a significant quantity of core veneers, face veneers and other timber logs from various countries Apart from timber, other raw materials & chemicals such Methanol, Melamine & Phenol are also imported in huge quantity, and a weak currency directly affects international trade adversely, increasing the input cost of the panel products.
Similarly in laminate segment, the higher rates of dollar against INR is going to affect the price of imported décor paper and raw material (chemicals ), it will eventually increase the operational cost of the laminate in all thickness. In surface décor sector, the import prices of products such as ASA panels, Acrylic panels etc may also increase in the wake of rising dollar rates.
Estimating from the current trends of dollar prices, it can be inferred that prices of the finished products both in wood panel and surface décor segment might increase marginally in the upcoming months.