The entire wood panel and decorative industry and trade are changing dramatically, and the players are adapting, with numerous changes in product manufacturing, uses, and applications. With the tremendous growth and mechanisation of furniture manufacturing, industry players anticipate exponential growth and demand for high-end products. Industry leaders in their respective fields weigh in on the change and, as a result, possible changes to their product offerings. Here's a synopsis of our conversation about the latest industry and trade trends.
Mr Ajay Agarwal, MD, Action TESA: Today, in the furniture industry, carpenters' work has almost vanished. With HDHMR, the workmanship is very easy, so this is getting picked up by furniture manufacturers as well as carpenters. Carpenters and contractors recommend this product because with it they save time by 50%. Its lower thickness range, like 3mm offerings, is revolutionizing door manufacturing and veneer applications also.
Mr Amit Obroi, Marketing Head, Greenpanel: MDF has made inroads as far as the acceptance of the product is concerned. If we compare MDF with local plywood, there is a huge difference in terms of quality. MDF has found widespread acceptance in the market, owing primarily to its ease of use and manufacturing methods. Everything is an automated process, unlike the typical plywood, where a lot of manual intervention is present. So, MDF is the future and we are definitely driving it to become a major wood panel industry product.
Mr Gautam Baid, MD, Coast to Coast Designs (P) Ltd: The furniture industry in India is booming. People's mental blockage on imported furniture due to difficulties in importing is increasing, so the localised veneer manufacturing taking place and increasing. Now people understand that the local quality is on par with Chinese and Malaysian quality. It is a positive trend, which is good for the industry.
Mr Shyam Shekhawat, Greenply: The 10 ft and 12 ft jumbo panels’ requirements are increasing among people with good earnings. In places like big houses, bungalows, hotel lobbies, and places where the ceiling height is more than 15 ft, people want to use big panels without any cracks. They wish to come down from 8 ft. The architects want to do something new and the availability of these panels gives them space to do so. This is a new change in the market. People are focusing on high grade natural and dyed veneers.
Mr Dhanesh Bhatia, Aryamman Interior Solutions: We are seeing tremendous growth in modular furniture manufacturing. I call it the sunrise industry. This is just the beginning of the mechanisation of furniture. At present, that may be up to 10% of the whole market. Imagine, at this level, we are seeing such a boom. So, there is a going to be exponential growth and demand for high end products.
Mr Jeetu Ajbani, MD, Deluxe Veneers: The veneer market is growing, as now people have become conscious about quality and trends. They want international colours, designs now.
Mr Mehul Agarwal, Director, Dorby Mica: The laminate industry always benefits because it is such a product that has no substitute worldwide. I don’t think any product sold at a margin of Rs 25-30 should be replaced by other products. If there had been any, China could have brought it earlier. In terms of furniture industry growth, like IKEA, many other big international players will enter the Indian market.
In the furniture industry, a kind of revolution is happening, with many international players like IKEA taking an interest along with domestic manufacturers, so the demand for panel products and their decorative solutions is going to grow at a fast pace. Many of the manufacturers have already started their work and brand promotion and the good results are already coming in. So, there is a good scope in this segment of the panel industry.
Mr Aman Agarwal, Director, Match Graphics. The customers are also taking an interest in Indian manufacturers for procuring décor paper. Today, laminate is made to replace any natural product in terms of looks. So, the current trend is for simple wooden, marble, and abstract designs. Now a new trend has started, which is a rustic wood design.
Mr Janak Vyas, VP Marketing, Cedar Décor Pvt Ltd (Durian): We have observed that the distributors' reach is limited to up to 100 km now because their payment recovery cost is becoming much higher with a shrinking margin if the distance is more. As a result, we devised the idea of appointing sub-distributors to cater to Tear II cities with rising potential.I would be necessary in coming times because decorative products have now become serviceoriented, commodity-like products. Those who can offer a reasonable price for a faster service will sell more.The industry and trade have to have a presence at every reference group. It is either dealers, distributors, contractors, or interior designers/architects.
Mr Amit Arora, Fusion Group: The furniture industry is evolving at a fast pace in India. The people who were importing it now wish to make it in India as importing from China is a challenging task. Again, maintaining colour stock is also a big task. So, they wish to make it in India. We play an important role in providing them with the best machines/ technology and offering them the best solution in India.
Mr Rishab Agarwal, Executive Director, Ideal Laminates Pvt Ltd.: Overall, design wise, the laminate industry as a whole has grown tremendously. In the last five years, what evolution/development has been observed in terms of new designs in this industry has moved very much closer to the natural designs. People wish to use laminate in place of veneer. So, it’s an achievement that we have reached that level of design so that people are willing to accept it as a substitute. In the last 5 years, people have understood that those who are making quality will survive.
Mr Kirit Shah, Director, MBEE Paper Print: The laminate industry trend is moving towards grace and soft from natural, and some marble and concrete are entering in terms of design.
Mr Amit Kulkarni, Director, Mepple Stainless: Zero finish plating was not available in India. Now it has been made available with indigenous manufacturing by using hard-chrome plating with 65 HRC, so the industry is improving at a good pace.
Mr S Karthikeyan, Red Star: South India is the biggest market for furniture and furniture-allied products. So, being present in South India is itself an advantage. The industry is moving on at a fast pace, facilitating the industry's growth.
Mr Ritesh Mundhra, Director, (Operations), Trubond Industries Pvt Ltd. Today, people are focusing on technical grade urea. If everyone started using it then it is well and good. If everyone started making E0 plywood, that is great, but until then, people have the option to make such products that get sold easily and give a good income without any difficulties. BIS direction towards E0 is good, but implementation and execution are not so good. It is already in implementation in the US. If it is done in India, the quality players will have good reason to go ahead.
Mr Narendra Khemka, MD, Saffron Decoratives Pvt Ltd (Safelam): There would not be any impact of the price rise on decorative laminate, but the liner production is already on a per order basis. Currently, with the slow movement of the economy, it has a greater effect on the market. In the last two years, the factory, distributors, and the entire channel of partners have become very comfortable with accepting the price variation and passing it ahead. This is a positive thing in the industry. The companies are trying to observe the cost and pass on the increased price to some extent, but that is also after two months. As a result, price variations would have no effect. Those who are moving on with the right system and policies have no challenging times, but those who are wavering will have to face challenges in the future despite the good sales.
Mr Ahsan Ahmad, MD, Splice Group: For quality-enhanced calibration and for cost-cutting by using think laminates, the price can be maintained with proper management of input costs. The demand for institutional and group housing is increasing. They wish to have all solutions in one place for faster execution of projects.
Mr Akshit Agarwal, Partner, Square One Decor: With a growing market, MDF and laminate players are offering textured solutions, increasing demand for these types of edge bands. It is a developing market that will only improve. The wide edge band up to 65 mm wide (in 0.8mm or 2mm) is being used in doors and conference tables by OEMs.
Mr Ashok Agarwal, MD, Tajpuria: We are the witnesses to the government's initiative towards infrastructure development and how much pain they are taking to promote the industries of the nation. While power outages are rare in Uttar Pradesh, it was previously difficult to obtain a continuous supply. The Govt. is giving every type of subsidy and the ease of doing business is increasing day by day. The UP government is a blessing to us. So, we are very happy that we are getting what we wanted from the government. It takes time to become a mature person, but it is not far away that UP will become the biggest exporter of wood panel products in all of India.
Mr Vinay Bansal, Diretor, Treelab: PVC products are cost-effective and come at almost half the price of wood. In WPC earlier, there was an issue of screw ability due to its low density. It should not be taken for granted according to the weight. It should be taken up as the surface hardness and density of the products. Nowadays, the highest awareness is happening with word of mouth publicity by dealers to dealers. The South is already aware and we do not need to make efforts. But, the north requires it as there is weak market for doors. The market is going to increase by 50% in one to two years.