Staples’ cost bombs firecracker budget

AHMEDABAD: Come Diwali and

firecracker

dealers do bumper business. However, this year, the sales remained pretty much muted suggest dealers, thanks to eroding disposable incomes of people with essential items including fuel and vegetables getting costlier.

This is the second consecutive year when fire cracker sales have remained low-key. Industry estimates indicate that the sales have plunged to 35-40% of pre-pandemic levels.

Anjan Kotak, an Ahmedabad-based firecracker dealer said, “Compared to last year’s Diwali, the sentiment looks good. People are not spending as much on firecrackers with overall ticket size of purchases declining by 40%.”

“Essential items have become costlier. Therefore, spending on firecrackers have reduced. People are spending more on apparel, food and even travel but not firecrackers,” Kotak added.

This time, customers who tend to buy firecrackers are investing more in pistol rolls, fire pots and sparklers, among others, and are shunning very noisy and smoky fireworks, suggest dealers. A selection of green crackers, which are free from hazardous and polluting chemicals is also available in the market however, the demand is much less due to little awareness.

This year, the prices of firecrackers have also increased. Due to increase in raw material costs, fireworks have become costlier by at least 10-15% suggest dealers.

“Costlier firecrackers could also be one of the reasons for sales taking a hit thus far. It is less than a week to Diwali and two years ago, the customer rush at this time of the year was such that we hardly got time to have lunch or dinner on time. However, presently, the demand is extremely muted,” said Nadeem Pathan, a firecracker dealer.

Bursting crackers is an age-old trend around Diwali. In many families, after Dhanteras or Diwali Pooja, people light the fireworks and it is mostly kids and youngsters who enjoy the festivities with colourful crackers. However, with greater awareness about the environmental hazards due to firecrackers, many have discontinued the practice. Vinayak Kumar, a class-8 student, said, “I enjoyed fireworks and firecrackers every single Diwali but as I learnt about the environmental hazards, I discontinued. Now, we light some flowerpots and a few sparklers after the Diwali pooja and that’s all.”


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