November was a month of dullness. Near Deepawali time, markets responded in weak sales, and after the festivals was over, there were hardly buyers. Entire South India was in rain and flooding where as entire North was busy gifting and celebrating first time after covid. The result was less demand for panel products. In fact last month was very poor for all the categories except MDF boards. The MDF order pendency ran high largely attributed to supply constraint from the plants in India, of which a few undergone through machinery upgrade.
For other products like Plywood, Laminates, Doors, PVC mica, PVC Boards, Wood Veneer etc, the demand was very weak. The sentiments during 3rd week of November were desperate and then we saw price correction in laminates. What I can see, is demand for panel product scaling back again to 80% of volumes during December. The month of January will also be good for the reason of more spending on home upgrade and improvements following ‘omicron’ scare.
There is no major impact visible on trade sentiment due to new virus scare as yet, though we can’t say anything after January. The demand in Particle Board sector, Plywood and Laminates will certainly improve quickly in next two months. Most of the industries are positive and expanding or modifying their plants. Specially in MDF category the mood is highly optimistic.
Many new players are eager to put up plant of any capacity from inside the industry as well as outside of the industry. The same euphoria were witnessed in every product category earlier which is presently being seen in MDF. The difference is here, there is place only for large plants, big investments.
There is capacity addition happening in every category be it plywood, laminate, MDF, Particle board or ACP. All the categories have different benefits and limitations. Seeing the future, the safest bet shall be not only on plant addition but on Quality, Processes and Brand Perception. A plywood company can perform very well if they have all 3 above but even a MDF manufacturer can’t be successful if he is missing the three.
To capture the maximum of India growth story during 2021-2030, one has to bank upon right product and right process. Even a distributor has to adopt it if he wishes to grow with the market growth potential. The Ply Reporter is publishing so much of well researched content on its Print and Web platforms that can enable even a small firm to grow multifold with right and very timely information.
The timber prices are bound to be high as demand is growing but supply is short. Hence the prices of panel products will be in upper circuits in time to come. The growth in readymade furniture category is very sharp hence offering plenty of opportunities for panel producers and quality decorative surface products. The veneer segment which is subdued for some time now is now expected to rise up again. Over all despite November was a weak month, next two months will recover the demand and sales for companies as interior work is picking its pace again.
Stay hopeful, stay active.
Pragat Dvivedi
Founder Editor Mail to “dpragat@gmail.com”, ( M) 9310612991.