Sreekant Somany, Chairman of the Board, stated that the domestic supply of quartz and feldspar is leading to a rise in prices, which is, in turn, affecting industry production and production costs.
“Depletion of these raw materials will force domestic industries to rely heavily on imports. This will result in further escalation of input costs thereby making tiles and sanitary ware expensive for the end-user,” Somany stated.
“It may also force many ceramic tile and sanitary ware manufacturers to shut down, resulting in loss of employment and a poor return on investments,” he added.
Feldspar output has considerably increased in the last few years. In the current financial year, exports of the mineral was noted to be 3.42 lakh tonnes, which was more than 30 percent of the production.
The export of quartz has been steadily rising over the past couple of years. Exports in 2010-11 were recorded at 2.05 lakh tonnes, a considerable increase from the 1.16 lakh tonnes in 2007-08.
Source: The Hindu Business Line