The Substitutional Alloy

Largely constituting MSMEs, non-ferrous metal component manufacturers are striving hard to stage a recovery from the pandemic induced degrowth. Ashish Bhatia with inputs from Deven Lad traces the headwinds and tailwinds around ancillaries based out of Asia’s largest brass micro-market.

- Ashish Bhatia

An alloy of copper and zinc in varying proportions, all through the pandemic, the non-ferrous metal ancillaries have recorded a loss of sheen compared to pre-Covid-19 quarters. Attributed to the decline in automotive business revenue share, the foundries into manufacture of the substitutional alloy - brass based in Jamnagar, known as the jewel of Kathiawar, on the coast of the Gulf of Kutch, in Gujarat were faced with a myriad of problems. Perhaps, for the first time in decades, the existence of the businesses that have made Jamnagar, Asia’s largest automotive and non-automotive brass ancillary micro market has been threatened to such an extent in over 80 years since inception. Of all the headwinds, the hike in commodity prices continues to eat into their profits, nearly one year into the grinding halt of the economy. Demand outlook, however, is showing a relative improvement, on a quarterly basis, say stakeholders.

Precision brass component manufacturers