Pump manufacturers in Coimbatore seek govt’s intervention to keep raw material prices under control

COIMBATORE:

Pump manufacturers

in Coimbatore say the prices of raw materials have risen steeply, which could result in an increase in the price of pump sets. This would adversely affect farmers.

They have urged the government to intervene and solve the issue.

In a communication, V Krishnakumar, president of the Southern India Engineering Manufacturers' Association (Siema), said the price of copper, a main raw material used to manufacture motors and some parts of pumps, had increased by around 25%, since June 1. The price of cable has been revised two or three times because of this.

Aluminum, used in making motors, has become costlier by more than 15%. “Similarly, the price of lamination steel and castings have also increased by around 10%. Pig iron used for producing castings for the pump industry had also seen a price increase of about 10%,” the communication said.

In addition to this, the increase in diesel price has made transportation more expensive both for incoming raw material and outgoing finished products, it said.

“Diesel price hike during this period is around 14%. This has resulted in the increase of freight charges by about 20%. Shortage of skilled labour has also been adding indirectly to the cost.”

Krishnakumar told TOI that this price hike could be due to global buyers keeping away from China. “And as exporters from India have started to see a demand because of this, they could have hiked the prices,” he said. “But we cannot pass on the price hike fully to our customers, who are mainly farmers. So we seek that there be some government intervention to solve the issue,” he said.

After

lockdown

relaxations, pump manufacturers have been working only up to 60% to 70% of the capacity as there was still uncertainty with states having their own phases of local lockdowns, Krishnakumar said. He said they were facing issues in delivering to places like Nagpur and Chhattisgarh.

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