COIMBATORE: Unable to cope with the rising raw material costs, small-scale foundries in the district have decided to shut operations and launch an indefinite strike from Wednesday.
While the foundries were hit hard by the lockdown, the steep hike in raw material prices has worsened the situation, said president of Coimbatore Tiny and Small Foundry Owners Association (Cosmafan) A Sivashanmuga Kumar. “Price of raw materials has been increasing around the same time for the last four years. Along with the main raw materials like pig iron, scrap and coke, price of allied components has increased by 116%. On an average, raw material prices have increased by 26% since November,” he told reporters.