Wood products maker Century Plyboards plans to expand its plywood production capacity by around 30 per cent in the next 12-15 months, with a capital expenditure of around ₹140 crore.
　

The planned production capacity expansion will involve both greenfield and brownfield projects. The Kolkata-based company is working on setting up a facility on an investment of around ₹100 crore.
　

“Currently, we are working on setting up one facility. It will be either in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, or Andhra Pradesh. The decision on the location of the new facility will be made on commercial viability. Alongside that in all our existing facilities, we are going for brownfield expansion. We are looking at augmenting our capacity at existing facilities by adding balancing equipment and new machinery,” Keshav Bhajanka, Executive Director, Century Plyboards (India), told businessline.
　

The plywood market is currently estimated around ₹27,500 crore with around 30 per cent of it being operated by organised players. In the overall plywood market, Century Plyboards garners around 8 per cent share. In the organised segment, the company controls anywhere between 25 per cent and 30 per cent market share.

The organised plywood market is growing at a high single-digit rate annually. The company expects the country’s plywood industry to double within the next six-seven years.
　

“Overall, we are targeting more than 10 per cent growth. Definitely, our market share is only going to increase from here,” said Bhajanka.

Due to the sharp rise in input costs, the company hiked prices in the plywood segment twice during this fiscal — around 2 per cent in both the first and second quarters. In laminates, it hiked prices once — around 3 per cent in the second quarter.

“Two-three years ago, the bulk of the raw materials used to come from domestic agroforests. But in the recent past, the demand has outgrown supply. Because of that, prices have shot up in the domestic market. As a result of this, there is more viability to import core veneer from countries like Vietnam and Brazil,” he pointed out.

In the ₹8,000-crore laminates industry, the company has a market share of around 8 per cent. During the last financial year, the laminate segment contributed around 17 per cent to Century Plyboards’ total revenues. Among its product portfolio, the company exports its laminates only.

“In the last financial year, the company’s exports of laminates stood at around ₹150 crore. And within the next three years, we are going to double this to ₹300 crore,” Bhajanka added.

Source: thehindubusinessline.com