Sewing machine furnaces stare at closure

A group of businessmen in Ludhiana, Punjab, India are up in arms against rising rates of pig iron, which they say have increased by over Rs 6000 per ton in the past fortnight alone. The unchecked rise in the rates is causing huge losses to the industry, and if the price hike is not checked, it will lead to disaster for the businessmen. In the past few days, the rates of the raw material have increased from Rs 39000 to Rs 45000 per ton, approximately. There is fluctuation of Rs 100 – 200 per day, and businessmen have warned that in case the rates do not come down, the furnaces producing sewing machine parts will have to shut down and there will be a supply crisis in coming days. Jagbir Singh Sokhi, president of the sewing machine technology part cluster, said, "during past 1520 days, the rates of pig iron which is the most widely used raw material by the sewing machine industry have increased by about Rs 6000 per ton. The grade of pig iron which during the start of January was available for Rs 37000 per ton is now selling for Rs 43000, and the grade which earlier was available for Rs 39000 per ton has now breached Rs 45000 per ton mark due to the increase