Corrugated box manufacturers observed a day's strike in Tamil Nadu over 'abnormal' price hikes by paper mills.
"Paper mills have joined hands and are raising the price of Kraft paper every fortnight in addition to cutting their production by closing their factories for 4 days in a month," said G Raj Kumar, Secretary of South India Corrugated Box Manufacturers' Association.
Corrugated box is eco-friendly and is used by SMEs, the raw material of which is Kraft paper made out of recycled old boxes and imported scrap.
The one day protest was held at Valluvarkottam, Nungambakkam in Chennai and saw participation of 500 people. The association believes that this price hike can negatively impact the livelihoods of 1 lakh direct employees, threaten the survival of 3,000 micro and small businesses in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.