Blue Star May Raise Prices Until Mid-April: MD

Business

Leading air conditioner brand Blue Star decided to review the prices of its products in mid-April after a surge in commodity prices due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

“We raised prices on March, July, and October 21, respectively,” said B. Thiagarajan, MD. “We had decided not to increase the prices until the end of the summer. But the war happened and commodity prices rose by 5%.

“We have sufficient stocks until June 22nd. But we need to start sourcing copper, aluminum and steel for further production. There is currently a shortage of copper and steel worldwide, combined with an increase in transport costs. We have to review the situation by mid-April. The price increase could be in the 10% range,” he said.

Regarding the forthcoming unit in Sri City in Andhra Pradesh, he said the first phase will be operational in the October-December quarter. It would have a capacity to produce four lakh units per year. The company had invested approximately £153m and will receive £73m as a production-linked incentive.

He claimed that the company’s market share increased from 12.75% in FY21 to 13.25% in FY22 and said it will reach 14% by next FY2019.

On expanding the dealer network, he said about 1,000 stores would open in the northern states in FY23, most of which would be in six states where they had never previously competed.

On Tuesday he presented almost 50 AC models.

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