PLANS are in place by local hardware company Kasabias Pte Ltd to invest in a manufacturing factory within the next two years.
Company general manager Ajay Chawla said they planned to initially invest about $4 million to $5m in the project which would create jobs for 40 people.
Once ready for production, the new factory will manufacture hardware materials such as roofing iron and other construction related materials.
Mr Chawla said manufacturing their own materials would also help them reduce their import bill.
As far as business is concerned Mr Chawla said there were a lot of construction projects going on which meant an increase in demand for hardware and building materials.
The company’s major source of materials is China however Mr Chawla said they had not experienced any major shortage in procuring materials however he alluded to the fact that there might be some challenges in the next few months.
Kasabias manager supply chain, Sanjay Narayan said they had some orders ready for import from China since last year but had not been able to get them across as a result of restrictions in shipping and freight.
Mr Narayan said their major market was China because its manufacturing sector produced everything — from something as small as a screw to bigger materials such as construction machines and roofing iron.
However he said they had their contingency plans in place in case the situation gets worse in the coming months.
Mr Narayan said they were looking at procuring materials from other countries such as India, Vietnam or Indonesia however at a higher cost to the company.
