State plywood industry runs into trouble at NH-73

YAMUNANAGAR/GURGAON: India’s biggest plywood industry base is facing raw-material shortage after the Yamuna River Bridge than connects the industrial town with Uttar Pradesh closed down. The bridge on NH: 73 near Haryana-Uttar Pradesh border was closed for traffic on Friday after cracks were found in caps of two pillars.
Nearly 60 percent of poplar wood for about 950 plywood industry units in Yamunanagar comes from neighbouring jungles of Uttar Pradesh.The industry here needs approximately 3 lakh tonne timber for smooth functioning every month. Till the time the bridge is repaired and declared safe, it will not be opened for traffic. We know that it will be problematic for industries, but safety cant be compromised, said an official. But industrialists from the region are left with little options. The only feasible route for heavy vehicles to reach the area is via Karnal, which industrialists say that is too long. If I bring the wood from Karnal route, it will overrun my costs. Forget making profits, I will have to bear losses in the market. If this bridge is not opened sometime soon, small industry units like ours will die, said a local industrialist.
On the other hand, local farmers in Yamunanagar are set to make gains from the situation. With tight poplar wood supply, industries are bound to offer us good prices. On Saturday, the prices were up by 10 percent. As the factories run out of their raw stock, they will hike raw material prices further, said Karta Singh, a local farmer. Yamunanagar district is considered as a hub of poplar trees in Haryana. The state contributes about 25 percent of the raw material for the plywood industries here, out of which 24 percent is from Yamunanagar alone.
According to reports, most of the factories in the region are running with small stock of raw wood.
Most of the area was flooded for past so many months. We were already facing a shortage of raw material. Now with the crack in the bridge, we see no end to our problems, said Virender Ajmani, owner of a plywood factory.