Ceramic Factory to be closed for 1 Month

India’s tiles capital Morbi is set to close down production of tiles for 1 month period starting from the 10th of August 2022. Morbi, the globe's second-largest ceramics sector, has made the difficult choice to halt production across its tiles sectors for a month as it appears to be in a deficit. 

Mukesh Kundaria, Chairman of the Morbi Ceramic Association (MCA), has formally stated the ceramic plants, with the exception of Morbi Wall Tiles, would be closed for one month beginning August 10. As for wall tiles production, the decision will be made in the coming days.

Morbi tile producers announced past week to go on a month-long work break beginning August 10 to just start clearing inventory that has accumulated due to increasing costs and a drop in sales over the previous 6 months, according to Mr. Kundariya of the Association. This was last done by Morbi tile producers 5 years earlier.

The situation of Morbi's tiles sector, that have rapidly engulfed the world market and is en route to surpassing Chinese tiles, has been affected by increasing natural gas costs since early last year, and the costs of many other raw resources have almost tripled.

Apart from the cost of raw materials, the pricey natural gas provided to the industry has played a major part in its shortfalls in the recent few months. Geopolitical reasons like the Russia-Ukraine war have not been kind to the market as well, as the Gas prices continue to grow and which is directly stunting the growth of many new tiles ventures who are not as well established as some big names in the industry. The cost of production has led to even some of the plants shutting down completely and has left some to take some precautionary measures to cope with the changing scenarios.

Given the tough competition from the Chinese market is able to churn out tiles and export them to the world at a very affordable price, the Morbi tiles market is left with no choice but to see this phase through, as they are in no condition to raise the price of their tiles export.

The domestic market itself hasn’t been kind to the industry in the past year the construction works and renovations, the mainstay of the tiles industry, has significantly gone down resulting in reduced sales. The close of production is said to be used to clear out the already piled-up stocks and will ensure that the industry is stable after this month-long break. 

As per Mr. Kundariya who heads the association of over 350 tiles manufacturers, the industry hopes to revive from the losses and tackle the adverse elements by using the announced 1-month break from production to strategize and square down the effects of the past few months. He insisted that this close down should not be considered as a strike or agitation, nor an act of desperation but rather a diligently planned vacation that the industry needed for itself to come back stronger.