Copper Price Surge Puts Coimbatore's Engineering MSMEs Under Margin Pressure
Copper prices in Coimbatore have surged nearly 75% over the past year to around Rs 1,450 per kg from Rs 800-900.
This significant increase is putting pressure on the competitiveness of engineering MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) in the major industrial cluster.
V. Rangaswamy, president of Coimbatore District Small Industries Association, said that MSMEs can only absorb a price increase of less than 10% but have been able to pass on only around 10-15% of the recent copper cost increase to customers.
He added that higher steel, zinc and petroleum-based input costs are further eroding margins and competitiveness. Rangaswamy also stated that raw material bank schemes offer limited relief as copper is too valuable and risky for MSMEs to store in large quantities.