Small paint manufacturers need easy loans for survival
The coronavirus outbreak wreaked havoc on the paint industry at the same time when it had been reeling from a slowdown in the housing and infrastructure sectors going back year or two, said Rupali Chowdhury, managing director of Berger Paints Bangladesh.
The industry has been hit harder than a great many other sectors as paint is not considered as a staple item like food, that people always reserve some fund to meet its demand in any crisis, she added.
Most the paint shops remained closed from March to June this season, pushing paint makers to create negative growths, Chowdhury told The Daily Star within an interview last week.
"Many ongoing and potential projects got postponed or cancelled & most consumers preferred in order to avoid painting their houses for the time being, due mainly to financial constraints and minimise the chance of contamination.
"Demand for paint products also subsided due to consecutive natural disasters -- floods, cyclone Amphan and heavy rain, she said.
In April, sales in the paint industry came right down to an archive low, putting pressure on small paint makers, who were struggling to adhere to the government's strict but timely directives to restrict the spread of Covid-19.
The coronavirus affected the web sales of Berger Paints Bangladesh also, which fell almost 50 % in the April-June quarter to Tk 228.5 crore from Tk 525 crore in the January-March quarter of 2020, she said.
The paint industry imports around 80 % of its recycleables from abroad.
But ensuring timely procurement of the materials became nearly impossible in March, April and could as a result of the restrictions on international shipments and closure of ports.
"This pandemic tested the resilience of Berger's supply chain team. Our procurement team timely initiated the contingency plan and sometimes made air shipment of raw materials whenever necessary."
Since the Covid-19 outbreak, Berger revisited its distribution plan.
"We started sending larger consignments to depots instead of the regular types along with delivering products right to the dealers' points.
These steps helped the company complete the task with reduced manpower, cut operation costs and, most of all, reduce the possibility of getting infected with the coronavirus.
"Our advanced technologies, structured management process and fearless attitude gave us a way forward."
Through the years, Berger has invested in technology and prepared itself to tackle scenarios like the current pandemic.
This year, the business conducted an gross annual financial audit, organised board meetings and total annual general meetings digitally.
"The audit was done only in under 8 weeks, as we provided the auditors with online access to our network to check on the mandatory information."
"Being among the oldest & most renowned companies in the united states, we believe that it is our responsibility to part of and help the united states come out of the crisis."
In July, the business's Mr. Expert Advanced Hand Sanitisers hit market.
In the center of that month, the business also introduced the 'Berger Expert Sanitisation Service' to supply global standard disinfection services to households, office premises and institutions.
"We launched services and added new features to your existing offerings. Consequently, we started providing safe painting solutions from our Berger Experience Zone outlets so that our consumers can paint their homes without worrying about the risk of contamination.
"We also provided our painters and dealers with various kinds of safety equipment to make sure that our partners are safe and also have the confidence to resume business when the lockdown is lifted."
Berger even positioned handwash basins at some dealers' point.
"Now our research and development team is actively attempting to introduce antivirus coating for all sorts of substrates. The merchandise may to enter the market soon."
The business provided the painters with over Tk 1.75 crore as donations to lessen their financial hardship.
The economy started reopening in July. Still many sub-dealers/wholesalers cannot resume business completely swing because of disruption in the mainstream supply chain.
No one knows how long the virus can last, as scientists, doctors and drug makers remain struggling to find a cure for the contagious disease.
So, the business has carefully designed the shifts of its employees to ensure social distancing.
"Berger Paints Bangladesh has aligned its businesses to cope with the pandemic if it stays here for long. There may be a slump, nonetheless it will never be a complete shutdown in the business."
The construction projects which were postponed are anticipated to resume soon. Painters and dealers have started working diligently to compensate the losses incurred through the initial days of the lockdown.
"We are doing our better to inject confidence among our customers and we strongly believe the problem won't exacerbate in the times to come."
Paint fights off ramifications of adverse climate, pollution and hazardous chemicals, giving durability and enhanced functionality of infrastructure.
It is a part and parcel component for the construction of buildings, commercial set-ups and infrastructural projects.
Therefore, paint shouldn't be considered as a luxury item, as it is an essential material to ensure protection against decay.
Paint shouldn't be at the mercy of any supplementary duty that applies to luxury items. To keep paint products affordable, it should be exempted from such duty.
Most dealers of painting products participate in the tiny and medium enterprise segment and the federal government should not forget that this SMEs play an exceptionally important role for proper functioning of the financial ecosystem.
So, the federal government should now provide easy loans to SMEs with regard to the paint industry.
Not only the government or the banking sector, but the non-governmental organisations and non-profitable institutions should also extend their support.
