Atul Industries goes for Shutdown as Demand Slumps Amid Lockdown in 80 Cities

Atul Industries, a renowned chemical manufacturer majorly dealing in bulk and organic chemicals, polymers and pharmaceutical products in India, has reported shut-down of its 1,3 di-Benzene Sulfonate plant in Valsad, Gujarat. It was initially predicted that Atul might keep the production going, however, disruption in supply of raw materials and customer-centric preventive measures like social distancing has adversely impacted the plant operations of the company. Moreover, low demand highlighting reduced consumption of the product as an outcome of supply-chain disruptions in all mega as well as mid-level Indian industries compelled the manufacturer to halt their production till the scenario improves. Coronavirus outbreak is believed to have the potential to cause damage worse than the World Wars. Rising concerns over virus outbreak has caused slowdown in chemicals sector due to restrictions such as lockdowns and curfews imposed in India as well as in other countries. At first, the outbreak of Coronavirus gave a ray of hope to domestic manufacturers to widen their profit margins as there was a supply chain disruption from major exporting countries like China, South Korea, Iran, Taiwan etc. In contrast, increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the country since past week has created panic in the whole country, requiring stringent measures, thereby, leading to outages in production as well as tight supply in the country.