Sivakasi factories give their best to beat Chinese challenge

Sivakasi is the largest cracker manufacturing hub and people from the farthest parts of the country place their orders during the time of Deepavali. The production is at the peak and the manufacturers are busy in sending the ordered packages. 

At the retail level, the shop keepers still fear that the sale of Sivakasi crackers will be hit by the Chinese crackers. Naga Kumar, a wholesale cracker seller from Sivakasi, claimed that the sale of crackers had not picked up this year and it is mainly attributed to the illegal availability of Chinese crackers. The Delhi government’s announcement banning the sale of Chinese crackers had given them fresh hopes and in the last one week they had sent 30,000 packets of fireworks to North India which is their major market. If the strict vigil against Chinese crackers continues, the sales would pick up or else would take a dip said Naga Kumar. 

Another major factor governing the sales is the price of the crackers. Madasamy, proprietor of Sridharaa Crackers, said that there is no major fluctuation in the prices. Owing to the increase in prices of chemical raw materials such as aluminium powder the price of crackers had increased by just 5 percentage compared to the previous year. They are keeping the prices competitive to encourage the buyers to go for Sivakasi crackers and to avoid Chinese ones said Madasamy.

Same concerns were echoed by the representatives of cracker manufacturers association. Speaking to DTNext, Abiruben, president, Tamil Nadu Fire Works And Amorces Manufacturers Association, said that though Chinese crackers are banned by the governments they make their way into the market via smuggling. 

As in the previous years, they fear that this year too Chinese crackers had made their way into crackers market and people need to be alert of them. 

He also said that Chinese crackers are unsafe and people should avoid using them. He further explained that Indian crackers do not explode due to friction as potassium chlorate is banned in India but potassium chlorate which is cheap and dangerous forms the main component in Chinese crackers which makes them harmful. They asked people to buy quality crackers.