SME sports goods manufacturing units in Jalandhar are witnessing brisk business over the last few months thanks to the mania associated with the Fdration Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup.
Spurt in demand ahead of the FIFA World Cup has prompted small-scale sports and football equipment manufacturers to increase their supplies in order to meet the burgeoning demand.
With FIFA World Cup round the corner, we are witnessing a steep increase in demand for football and soccer goods, which in turn, is helping the Jalandhar football equipment industry to witness rise in its sales and margins, said R Kumar, proprietor of Union Sports International, a small-sized manufacturer of sports ball in Jalandhar.
Given the market requirements, SME sports equipment manufacturers are also undertaking training programmes to manufacture machine-stitched football, thereby shifting their focus from the hand-stitched ones. Promotional campaigns undertaken by retail houses are also helping to perk-up sale of soccer goods.
Order inflow for machine-stitched football is much higher than hand-stitched football both in domestic and international markets. This has prompted us to undertake training and improve our quality and productivity, said a key spokesperson of JJ Export House, a sports goods manufacturer in Jalandhar.
Demand for Jalandhar-made sports goods has gone up significantly over the last few months and is likely to increase further, with the peak business period beginning from March and likely to continue till May-end this year for global market, while it will last up to September in India.