Morbi wall tiles units close shop to clear stocks

More than 200 wall tiles manufacturers have closed their units for 25 days from February 10 onward to reduce the burden of over load of stocks as demand has come down by 20 per cent. The units are set to resume the work from March 6.

"We have decided to shut down production of wall tiles to cut the gap of demand and supply," said Rajubhai Dhamasana, president of Morbi Dhuva Glaze Tiles Association. According to industry players, it is for the first time that all the wall tiles manufacturers have decided to close their units together. "We have taken this decision to maintain uniformity in the industry," said another tile manufacturer.

Talking about demand and supply gap Rajubhai said, "In past few years many players have expanded their capacities. As a result production has increased by 10 to 15 per cent in Morbi. Currently per day demand is somewhere around 8-9 lakh boxes whereas the industry produces 10-12 lakh boxes. By closing the units for some time, we can at least balance out the demand and supply ratio."

At present Morbi have about 220 ceramic wall tiles units whose annual turnover is around Rs 4,000 crore. Through a daily production of 10-12 lakh boxes of wall tiles, the industry offers direct and indirect employment to over 60,000.