Coimbatore: The garment hub of Tirupur had found a new business opportunity during the lockdown – manufacturing of face masks. Millions of masks were made and supplied across the country, keeping the otherwise idle sewing machines of the garment units running.
But there has been a sharp drop in orders for face masks post Diwali. Several garment units haven’t received any orders. There are also instances of traders returning masks to the manufacturers, citing poor sales.
Vijay Kumar of Priya Garments, a medium scale manufacturer in Tirupur, says, “Two bundles of masks were sent back to us from Coimbatore. Consignments are being returned from North India too. Now, we have stopped making masks totally.”
Tirupur units started making face masks towards the end of March. By mid-April, the garments units in that district were making lakhs of masks and supplying them across the country. The trend continued till June, when the demand was growing daily. But by July, there was a stagnation in orders, as several players across the country entered into the face mask business and there was a stiff competition to grab market.
By November, orders to Tirupur units plummeted. A Jagdish, proprietor of JVR Clothings, says, “We were supplying about 30,000 masks a month. But it came down to half that quantity in November.” While people are continuing to use face masks, he says buying fresh masks has reduced. “Everyone has bought at least half a dozen masks already. So, they keep reusing them, rather than buying new ones. That’s is the reason for the drop in sales.”
According to him, the orders, which are far and few, are coming from corporate houses, which seek quality masks for their employees and clients.
Orders from merchants have fallen and they demand a very low price, which is not viable, say manufacturers. “Face masks are low value products, which don’t give us high profit. When there was no regular business, we found manufacturing masks as a saviour. But now our regular orders for garments have started coming,” says a leading manufacturer.
Not just face masks, orders for personal protection equipment (PPE) kits too has come down. For instance, Priya Garments was supplying 5,000 PPE kits a month. Today, its business is nil.