FCBM to go on strike from June 29

Chennai, Jun 26 (UNI) The Federation of Corrugated Box Manufacturers of India (FCBM), comprising micro and small scale entrepreneurs, will go on strike for three days from June 29 to create customer awareness about their plight.

Talking to newspersons here, FCBM Vice-President K Anil Kumar Reddy said ''the bandh from June 29 to July one is mainly intended to spread awareness among consumers of corrugated boxes and bring in better understanding of ground realities so that the industry is paid what is legitimately due towards conversion costs and paper price hikes.'' The industry also wanted to bring in price stability and transparency from paper mills and would like to bring them to the negotiating table for framing a medium and long term pricing policy, Mr Reddy said.

He said the corrugated box manufacturers have been suffering immensely ''as we neither have control over the unabated increase in input costs, nor over escalating kraft paper prices.'' As the paper mills deliberately create artificial scarcity for kraft papers by closing down the mills, the situation was critical and the corrugated box industry was under threat, he said.

More than 10,000 units in the country would down shutters for three days, he said, adding, the strike, however, would not affect the supply chain of consuming industries as they were given sufficient notice about the strike.

The prices of paper and board have increased by 25 to 30 per cent and the increase in prices of other inputs like steel stitching wire and starch adhesives have resulted in conversion costs going up by 60 to 70 per cent, Mr Reddy said.

In the last four years, the cost of production had gone up by 51 per cent, he added.

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