Ninteeen industrial associations under the banner of Federation of Coimbatore Indusrial Association (FOCIA) staged a demonstration here on Tuesday, demanding that the Centre take steps to bring down the prices of raw material, including steel, copper and aluminium, which have gone up for the last two months. Placing wet grinders, motors and pumps in front of them, they raised slogans in support of their demands, including forming a price monitoring committee and fixing a cap on raw material prices, which should be revised once a year, as in the agriculture sector.
FOCIA coordinator J James said prices of PVC Pipes and ABS plastics had gone up by 140 per cent and that of steel copper, zinc and aluminium by 15 to 25 per cent over the last two months. He said a similar price hike was seen in 2017 soon after GST was introduced. Even as the industry was recovering from that jolt and from the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, it started facing another hike for the last two months, due to which production was reduced, James said. Industries were in a dilemma as they could not increase the price of their products for fear of losing customers, he said, adding public sector units also fine them for delayed delivery.
FOCIA, with 10,000 industries as members, include Wet Grinders Manufacturers Association, SIDCO Industrial Estate Manufacturers Welfare Association and Tamil Nadu Association of Cottage and Micro Enterprises, of which James is the president.
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