Panipat mink blanket makers ready to take on dragon globally

Mukesh Tandon

Tribune News Service

Panipat, July 8

Panipat mink blanket manufacturers are ready to take on the dragon at the international level. The blanket manufacturers claimed that they would soon show the dragon the door from not only Indian market, but also challenge it in the international market.

“We have been receiving regular inquiries from international stores in Europe and the USA markets about mink blankets during the lockdown period and we are ready to export it internationally,” says Pritam Singh Sachdeva, president, Panipat Industrial Association.

“After the tussle among Europian countries and the USA due to Covid, buyers from international stores have started approaching us. Now, scores of buyers have ordered mink blankets,” he said.

“This was not a one-day development, it took five year to reach this level. Earlier, 95 per cent of the mink blankets were imported from Korea for Rs 3,500-4,000 per piece, which was made of acrylic, but later, China had started manufacturing mink blankets by using polyster and India market started importing these from there for Rs 1,500-2,000 per piece while only 5 per cent was manufactured in Punjab”, he said. The Panipat industrialists started manufacturing mink blankets two years back and now around 60 plants are operational in Panipat. Approximately 20 plants will become operational by the end of this year, he said.

“We brought the cost of mink blankets very down. Earlier, we imported the blanket per piece, but now it is available for Rs 150-170 per kg, Sachdeva said. On an average, a blanket weighs 3 kg and it costs Rs 500-600, he added. Panipat is manufacturing approximately 9-lakh kg mink blankets in a day i.e. 3 lakh blankets per day, he claimed.

Now, mink blanket are not being imported from China in the Indian market as we have been providing better quality at a lower rate here, he added.

“The major problem we have been facing is lack of skilled labour and experts. There is no specific institute in India from where we can get experts for the blanket industry. There are engineers for weaving and spinning, but we can’t get engineers or experts for the mink blanket industry”, asserted Sachdeva.