Ceramic manufacturers in Morbi will raise prices of their products by 10-20% owing to a move from cheaper to costlier fuel and restrictions imposed by the Rajasthan government on sale of raw materials. "A meeting of manufacturers was held on Monday. It was decided that prices of tiles will be raised by 10-20%. We have suffered twin blows in the form of rise in fuel prices and restrictions by Rajasthan government on the sale of raw materials used in ceramic industries," said Nilesh Jetparia, president of Morbi Ceramic Association, wall tiles division. A recent order by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) forced manufacturers to replace coal gas with natural gas – which is better for the environment – resulting in a spike in input costs from Rs 20 for one cubic metre of coal gas to Rs 36 for PNG. Availability of raw materials will also be affected by the Rajasthan government's recent order to restrict transportation of mineral Felspar (mainly used as whitening agents) in form of grains, chips and gitti out of the state. K G Kundariya, former president of Morbi Ceramics Association, vitrified tiles division, said that Zirconium can also be used as a whitening agent, but is costlier. He added that the proposed price hike will not affect competitiveness of ceramic products made in Morbi. "We are competitive by a huge margin. Even after the price hike, we will be competitive in both domestic and export markets. No other state or any other country can produce ceramic tiles at the value proposition that Morbi offers," said Kundariya. Around 400 units went out of production after the NGT order. Business was expected to return to normal by the end of March, but now, it seems it would take about three weeks more. Shutting down of these units has reduced daily production from 60 lakh to 35 lakh boxes. One box has approximately 0.9 square metre of tiles.

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