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Umbrellas in short supply, blame high input price

A rise in the cost of yarn, steel and labour has made umbrellas costlier and in short supply this monsoon. The shortage is so severe that manufactures are turning away large orders.

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A rise in the cost of yarn, steel and labour has made umbrellas costlier and in short supply this monsoon. The shortage is so severe that manufactures are turning away large orders.

Purvi Shah, a manufacturer of box stationery items, wanted 1,500 umbrellas that she planned to give away as gifts to clients on the company’s anniversary in June. She was turned away by seven dealers. “I was told that they will be able to deliver the umbrellas only by the end of June or first week of July,” she said, adding that she never faced the problem earlier.

Around lanes like Babu Genu Road in Kalbadevi, where most umbrella manufacturers have their offices, the refrain is that they are not entertaining mass orders. Rajesh Chopra of Sagar Sons which owns the ‘Happy’ brand said, “We stopped taking orders from dealers and retailers in May. It is not possible to deliver large orders.”

“We are behind schedule in dispatching orders,” said a manager at Seth Nagjee Purshottam, a 130-year-old firm that makes umbrellas under the ‘Sun’ brand.

Apart from the 5 lakh dozen it imports from China, India makes 60 to 70 lakh dozen umbrellas annually. Manufacturers estimate that domestic production is down by 30% this year. As a result, retail prices have gone up by 20-30%. For instance, a double folding and 10-rib umbrella that was available last year for Rs150 is retailing for Rs200 this year.

Manufacturers say labour has become at least 20% more expensive. “There is of labour, both in India and abroad. Also, prices of raw materials imported from China have risen steeply,” said Aziz Currim of Ebrahim Currim and Sons which sells umbrellas under the ‘Stag’ brand. According to umbrella makers, government welfare schemes have stopped the flow of migratory labour from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to umbrella manufacturing centres in Rajasthan and Maharashtra.

The shortage of labour and rise in wages in China has also affected imports from there. Importers said the two-month gap between booking and delivery of orders from China means that the shortage is unlikely to be addressed before the peak period of the monsoon.

Moreover, last year’s prolonged monsoon meant that the usual unsold stock after the last rains, about 30%, was wiped out.

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