Plywood and laminate maker Century Plyboards (India) has shelved its joint venture (JV) with Chinese door manufacturing company Goldea.
The Kolkata-based company has ventured into the business alone and has doubled its door manufacturing capacity. It has also launched variants to expand its CenturyDoors range.
Speaking to the media after the company’s 38th annual general meeting in the city on Wednesday, CenturyPly chairman Sajjan Bhajanka said: “We shelved the 60:40 JV with the Chinese firm primarily because the lightweight doors were not well received by the market during its test-marketing. Since Indians prefer heavy doors, we have begun manufacturing them at our units in Guwahati, Karnal in Haryana and Roorkee in Uttarakhand.”
He added that the firm has recently scaled up its door manufacturing capacity to 2,000 doors per day to address the growing demand for plain, laminated and decorative doors. The business contributed 10% to the company’s total turnover of Rs 2,263.83 crore clocked in FY 2018-19.
Century Plyboards is also looking at a Rs 500-crore capex as it plans to expand its manufacturing capacities of medium density fibre-board (MDF) and particle board. The company is in the process of acquiring land in Uttar Pradesh for the proposed greenfield MDF-cum-particle board plant.
“The project is expected to start production over the next 18 months and will enhance the MDF and particle board manufacturing capacity from 850 cubic meters per day to 1,500 cubic meters per day,” Bhajanka said.
This unit is expected to be operational by the end of Q3FY20.