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The corrugated box industry is gradually standardising on 3 and 5 ply boxes as the production of 7 and 9 ply boxes is becoming negligible. A parallel trend is also seeing an increase in the thickness of paper in use as the box manufacturers opt for 22 BF or 120 GSM and higher paper and the 14BF and 100 GSM paper usage is falling rapidly. This is the conclusion of the annual survey conducted by the Federation of Corrugated Box Manufacturers Association ( FCBM) based on the response received from over 80 respondents at the 2004 conference at Agra. “If this trend continues, we will see more of 5 Ply automatic plants coming into production in near future,” predicts the survey. An average increase in production by 35% with one in three respondents adding a facer during the past year could well be the industry trend. However, the average productivity per facer or per person has stagnated after showing significant improvements in the last 15 years. The productivity of 40 Kgs per person per day in 1988 that has increased to 100 Kgs in the recent years is still much below world averages and is unlikely to go up without increased automation. The increased production seems to be going to the processed food, consumer durables and engineering goods segments while the textiles and yarn seem to have a negative growth. The growth in other segments is almost even with the industry trend. `The Engineering goods segment, which was traditionally using wooden crates is showing an increased usage of corrugated boxes. Members should take up this opportunity and push this segment for replacing wooden crates with corrugated boxes,` says Ram Kumar Sunkara, the chairman of the R&D Committee of FCBM that is responsible for the survey. The survey is published by the FCBM in a booklet that is privately circulated.
Date: 17-Apr-2005
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