Greenpanel Industries Limited (GREENPANEL) Q4 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Green Panel Industries Ltd. Q4FY26 Earnings Conference Call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchstone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Gavin Lee, sir, from CDR India. Thank you, and over to you.

Thank you. Good day, everyone, and thank you for joining us on Green Panel Industries Q4 and FY26 running conference call. We have with us today Mr. Shobhan Mittal, the Managing Director, and Mr. Himanshu Jindal, the CFO. Before we begin, I would like to share that some statements made in today's discussions may be forward-looking in nature and may involve risks and uncertainties. A detailed statement in this regard is available in the results presentation, which was shared with you earlier. I would now like to invite Mr. Shobhan Mittal to begin the call. Over to you, Shobhan.

Thank you. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to our Q4 and annual FY26 earnings call. The year 2526 has been a transformational year for Green Panel. As you're aware, we added a new MDF manufacturing line at Andhra Pradesh, end of FY25, and with a long-term strategy in mind, introduce changes to re-engage and re-energize our people, our customers, and our vendors, while simultaneously renovating our ways of working. On the people front, we bought in Prakash last year in March to lead domestic sales, and got Himanshu on board later in Q1 to lead finance. The strategy clearly shifted to customer excellence and volume scale-up, supplemented by a drive to move to a leaner cost base in manufacturing. This was a key reason for us growing more than the weighted average volume growth of the industry, despite us having a larger base, leading to a turnaround of both operational and financial parameters over the last nine months of FY26. During the course of the year, a number of initiatives were undertaken to support states. Top-channel partners were facilitated in Bali in Q1, followed by the announcement of a new foreign travel scheme in the second half of FY26. Trade engagements were amplified. Cumulatively, more than 21,000 participants, such as carpenters, contractors, and sub-dealers, were connected with DreamPanel under this ride. The Reram Loyalty Program app was launched in June 2025. The Mythra 2.0 app broke. Provides a seamless experience for our partners and the associated carpenter fraternity, and the active user count has increased since then to more than 18,000. New high-value products like ACWR doors in MDF and fire retard in MDF were launched in the first half of the year, followed by the launch of the country's strongest, toughest, and heaviest boiling waterproof MDF boiled in the second half. These new product launches reflect a commitment to the changing customer needs and also support our ambition for more value and margin-accredited businesses in the future. Coming to sales numbers, we achieved India domestic volumes growth of 29.5% year-on-year in quarter four, while the full-year growth was 16.9%. Counting in exports. Which was significantly impacted in March after the onset of the war in the Middle East, the total MDF volumes for Quarter 4 grew by 27.8% year-on-year in the quarter, and by 12.9% year-on-year for the full-year FY26. One thing I wish to highlight is that despite the impact on exports in Quarter 4, our full-year volume numbers are still broadly in line with the revised guidance that we had shared middle of last year. MDF realizations were lower by 3.6% over the last year in FY26. Some portion of this was also attributable to the increase in OEM sales apart from the change in product mix post-addition of the new plant IDAP. The high-value MDF product mix for the year being 43% in volume terms and 55% in value terms. On the plywood side, we had a strong growth of 18% in volumes in quarter four as a result of which, on a full year basis, we closed the year almost flat over last year. On a combined basis, revenues for the quarter grew to 391 crores, a growth of 15.5% over the last year, while the full year sales were at 1502 crores, a growth of 7.8% over the last year. The consolidated operating EBITDA, excluding the impact of currency movement on the euro, borrowing for the new plan, and the one-offs impacting the results, was Rs. 35.4 crores, or 9.1% of revenues in Q4, while the full year number was Rs. 132.7 crores, or 8.8% of revenues, again in line with the revised guidance shared in November 2025. Coming to what's happening currently in the sector and the outlook for FY27. The ongoing geopolitical situation in the Middle East is the biggest variable at play right now. Supply chains have been impacted adversely, leading to significant escalation on cost front, especially in case of chemicals, which is 40 to 45 percent of our raw material costs. Chamber costs have, however, continued to remain stable, though over the last three to four months, through over the last three to four months. Like others, we too have announced price increase of 15% to reduce the impact on our margins. On the supply side, the overall MDF capacity in the country is 4 to 4.5 million cubic meters per annum, depending on the actual product mix offered by the suppliers. There are a few capacity additions announced already, some portion of which is expected to become operational by mid-end of the current year FY27. The rest is demand. MDF demand is expected to continue at a healthy pace of early double-digit to mid-tease. On our side, we operated at 60% capacity utilization in quarter-core FY26 and thus have a significant headroom available for organic growth next year without any additional material investments. However, given the uncertainty around the war in the Middle East, I will be optimistically Be cautious at this point of time. So, instead of giving a figurative guidance for FY27 for the moment, what I can share is that we will continue to pursue volume growth as the primary goal this year, with a clear intent of retaining and increasing our relative market share, while trying to maintain or improve our margins over the last year. With this request, I request our TFO, Himansi Jindal, for the financial and other updates. Thank you.

Thank you, Shubhanji. Good evening, all. Since a lot has already been covered by Shobhan Jai, and we have already circulated the potential exchanges, I keep my opening remarks brief this time. So while the operational EBITDA was 4% in quarter one, with the change in our approach over the next three quarters of the last fiscal, both in terms of the volume EBITDA, incidentally, we grew up near the volumes by roughly, you know, the domestic volumes by roughly 26%, and the total volumes by 23% in the last nine months of the last fiscal. And with our clear focus on manufacturing cost and efficiencies, we were still able to manage a full-year operational EBITDA of 132.7 crores, which is 8.8% of our revenues. Exceptions, however, clearly weighed on our reported EBITDA net profits. The adverse change rate movement on our outstanding euro-denominated borrowings had an impact of 6 crores on the bottom line during quarter four, with a cumulative impact of 49 crores for the full-year. Apart from that, there was an impact to profitability as well on account of A, the initial inefficiencies during the stabilization phase of the new line at Andhra, which was largely in quarter one, basically power and fuel consumption being higher than what it should have been, and the higher interest in depreciation expense post-capitalization of the new line. Counting these in, our reported EBITDA for the Kulia was 94.2 crores, or 6.3% of our revenues. The PBT was negative 43.8 crores, and the BAT was negative 29.1 crores. On the balance sheet side, we have continued to stay strong at core. Our DSOs at 21 days is the best in the wood panel industry and reflects our very strong brand positioning. Our core cash conversion cycle is at 38 days for the full year. Again, something which shows our commitment to financial prudence. While simultaneously maintaining a double-digit volume growth of our business at the same time. The leverage remains comfortable as well. Our debt has further reduced this year, although because of the unfavorable FX change, the reported net debt was 156 growth at the end of March. I think we can now request the moderator to open the Q&A, please.

Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touchstone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use answers while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Keshav Lahoti from HLFC Securities. Please go ahead.

Hello, hi. Thank you for the opportunity. Sir, so can you go send a guidance for effort when you say what will be your volume growth and what sort of margin you are talking about? Hello, am I audible?

Mr. Lahoti, you are sounding a little muffled. Can you please check?

Is it better now?

Yes, you may please go ahead.

Yeah, so my first question is, what is the FY27 guidance for MDF, Volving Group, and Margin?

Manshul, do you want to get it?

Yeah, I'll, in fact, repeat what you said as part of your opening remarks. So, see, what we are expecting, Keshav, is that this industry will continue to grow at a healthy pace, yeah, which is early double digits to, let's say, something like mid-teens. What we are saying is because there are multiple variables playing out at the same time now, it's a little difficult for us to articulate in terms of what the growth numbers could be. But we are going to be with the market or better than the market. So which means we will continue to pursue our volume strategy, growing more than the market, hopefully, retaining our market shares or, you know, bettering them up. On margins, you know where we were, you know, in quarter one, and from there, we have grown, and we have come down, come to something like high single digit for the full year. The intent would be to maintain or even take this up, yeah? Obviously, you need to see more and more profitable growth, value-occurative growth coming into play. But, you know, times are a little uncertain, you know, for us to give you a formal figure is becoming a little difficult right now.

Understood. Tell me one thing, the 15% price hike which you have taken in MDF, has it absorbed the entire cost inflation or more price hike you need to take?

No. So, that has, Keshav, that is just about absorbed our current cost inflation. However, you know, what we, I mean, of course, We're waiting and watching if there are any further significant cost increases that come into play. However, because of the, you know, muted sort of demand scenario at this point of time and, you know, the competitive pressures, we're already seeing slight discounting already happening in the market from that 15%. So I won't say that the complete effect of the 15% is already in place. But, yes, the 15%, if implemented properly, would cover all the cost increases that have taken place so far.

And how has been the thing in this quarter? Because such a sharp, you know, price increase, is the demand impacted?

Sorry, sorry, Keshav, again, your line's not very clear. I can't hear you.

So I was saying, you know, it's already, we are in mid-May, and you have taken such a sharp increase. So how has the demand responded to this?

So, you know, before price increase in March, there was, of course, a lot of stocking that had happened towards the end of the financial year, and April was expected to be a muted month. And now I would say that... Finally, people are coming to terms with the cost increases. We also see that building materials in general across sectors, there have been substantial price increases. So unless there are some critical, you know, only the critical or the priority projects are actually executing, people who are not in a rush to complete projects or to undertake new projects are sort of holding back on this. So, that's where the situation remains. So, I won't say that the price increase has fully been accepted and the demand is completely back to normal.

All right. One last question from my side. If I see your volume, even just the domestic sales growth, sequentially it is just a flattish to marginal degrowth in Q4. When the stocking has happened in March, ideally this should have been a good quarter in terms of volume on the domestic site.

Amashup, can you see that? Yeah, sequentially domestic was flat. Yeah, this is correct. Yeah, but there was obviously stocking happening in the month of March, just before the price increases were implemented.

Yeah. So that is what I'm trying to understand. Why the volume is still tried. Ideally Q4 is a strong quarter with stocking happening. So what was missing? Year-on-year numbers is looking healthy, but how should we interpret a Q1-3 number?

No, because of certain, I mean, there was a loss on the export side of our volumes for sure, you know. The whole of March, we were not able to sell any exports.

No, I got it. My question was just on the domestic side. I was just talking on the domestic side, the number is that is. I'm not talking about export or total volume.

You see, if you look at it, even from a last year perspective, Keshav, my volumes on the domestic front comparing Q4 to Q3 were relatively soft. This year, the whole intent was to build up volumes, continue at least with the RMS case that I've seen throughout the last six months, yeah, prior to Q4 kicking in. I think, you know, overall, if you look at the nine-month holistic picture, see, quarter to quarter, there could be aberrations. I think nine months is what has been a sweet play for us, even from a domestic point of view. All right. So that's kind of grown by 0.6%, which is, I think, a pretty healthy growth rate, considering where we were earlier.

And, Keshav, we were also, you know, to be honest with you, in the interest of our own profitability with costs had gone up prior, before the price increases could take place, right? So we also wanted to sort of, you know, encash on the fact that hold back the expensive material and try to sell it at a high price in the coming quarter. So it wasn't a free for all volumes. You know, we had calculated volumes. We wanted to supply at low prices in the market.

Got it. Thank you.

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Pravin Sahai from Prabhadas Leeladar. Please go ahead.

Yeah, thank you for the opportunity. My first question is related to the industry. Can you give an indication, like of last year, FY26, how the industry in terms of the volume grew?

So, see, we foresee that the industry in general grew, you know, in the mid-teens to sort of high-teens kind of levels. However, you know, this number is fairly varied if you look at across the listed companies, although the information is only out for a couple of them yet so far. But, you know, obviously, companies with a smaller starting base were able to grow at a higher pace. We can also see that there was, you know, reduction in realizations of certain companies because of discounting structures in order to capture market share. So it sort of is correlated. But the industry in general, I would say, would have grown at the mid-teams to sort of high-teams level.

Right, sir. And also, you highlighted a few new capacities are coming in mid of 27. So, can you quantify how big those capacities are?

So, I would say…

Sorry, go ahead, Manchu. So there are two capacities that we are aware of which are going to come in in the second half. One is in Madhya Pradesh, the other is in AP. I think the total price that we are looking at is 400,000 for the full year. Obviously, it doesn't come up at one go. You know, it will be a calibrated and, you know, approach in terms of, you know, volume ramp up, etc. Yeah, so you can expect some volumes to trickle in this year. And obviously, next year, the capacities are fully available.

Now, coming to the price hike of 15% you had indicated. So, this 15% is enough to compensate the chemical price increase which has impacted your number in Q4.

Yes, that's what, you know, the earlier gentleman had also asked. So, based on today's costing levels of the chemicals, this 15% is sufficient to absorb those cost increases. However, you know, the situation remains fluid. Chemical costs are very volatile at this point of time. They move on a daily basis. So we're also waiting and watching very carefully, and, you know, if they move up substantially, then there could be another price increase that needs to be taken, and which we'll, you know, we'll decide accordingly.

And as a whole, industry is taking such kind of a price increase.

Yes, I would say this price increase in two phases, which we took 5% plus 10%, has been across the industry.

All right, sir. Also, you indicated about the timber price, which were flat last quarter. So, any indication for FY27, how you are seeing the timber price movement?

We expect it to remain fairly stable. You know, now many players have moved on to multiple species, so the pressure on eucalyptus, which was predominant raw material initially, has reduced significantly. And with multiple species being available, you know, overall raw material timber costs have been quite stable. And we don't expect it to move much in the current year.

Right. And if you can give a EPCC benefit for a quarter and a year.

Sure. So, this is already there as a footnote, if you see on slide 8, but I'll repeat it. So, for quarter 1, you know, quarter 1 was 5, the next quarter was 6, quarter 3 was 8, and this quarter we have taken 6 crores as EPCG. So, overall, 25-odd crores have been accounted for as EPCG in the year, against 35, which was accounted for one shot in quarter 4 last year.

You're right, sir. Thank you so much and all the best. Thank you.

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sneha from Novama. Please go ahead.

Thanks a lot for the opportunity. A couple of questions from my end. Firstly, if I look at the domestic realizations now, they have been largely slattish. This is despite taking a significant size increase in the month of March. While I understand our focus has been in the volumes, would we get some flavor on the realization? Where are we headed?

No. So, Sneha, no price increase impact was actually effective in March. All sales that happened in the month of March were still at old prices. Still the 31st of March. And with a little bit of trickle-on effect, all prices were still being, were the effective prices. There was no price increase that had happened till 31st of March.

So we will see the entire impact starting Q1.

So that would also be sort of, I would say, you know, the entire 15% will not be effective. For the quarter, because it got implemented in phases, and there was a sort of a critical effect of gold prices, dispatches, which were pending, still happening. And as I mentioned earlier as well, that there is already some instances of discounting going on by certain players. And there is a possibility we might have to react as well. So it's not safe to say that the entire 15% will be visible in this quarter.

In the future, in the future. Secondly, on the margin strength, or did I hear it correctly where you said that, you know, you've done higher single digit margin and you would like to maintain it or marginally improve it? No, also.

No, I think we expect margins. We want to be very cautious in giving a margin guidance at this point of time, to be honest with you, because there are so many variables that play at this point of time with the chemical costs fluctuating, export businesses, completely out of the picture for us at this point of time because freight is not letting us fulfill any kind of export orders. At the same time, you know, pricing is also very uncertain at this point. As I mentioned, you know, there is undercutting going on. So we're a bit cautious as to give you a long-term guidance on the margins at this point of time. We'd like to refrain from that for this, at this point of time, at least, you know. We want to sit out the first quarter, wait and watch till we give you a definitive guidance on where we will stand.

Got that. And lastly, on the EPCG benefits, I think in one of the calls you had mentioned that we'll be having total benefits of 86 odd crores, of which I understand 60 odd crores is already taken. So the remaining 26 odd crores, is it due near 527? Or can that be carried forward in the coming quarters as well?

Well, again, you know, this benefit is directly linked to the volume of exports that we do. So, you know, if things geopolitically settle down, we're quite certain that we'll be able to get this benefit within the current financial year. However, if exports don't open up for a long term, then it might trickle on to the next financial year as well, a little portion of this.

Go on, Dr. Go on, Dr. All the best, please.

Thank you.

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Utkarsh Nupani from Anandrathi. Please go ahead.

Yeah, hi, sir. So, my first question is regarding the industry side. So, just one way to understand what will be the MDF industry demand in FY26, and if you can also split it between the thick MDF demand and the thin MDF demand in FY26.

So, like, I think as a number, I think what's safe to say is that based on last year numbers, you can assume a sort of 15% growth on the market size, which is what it has been historically growing at. Thin MDF traditionally remains about 20% to 25% of the entire market compared to of the whole 100%.

Okay. So, like, in the last Q4 earning call, it was indicated to us that India's demand was close to around 2.6 to 2.7 million cubic meters. So, over there, if we assume 15% growth, so is it safe to assume that the industry demand would be close to around 3 million cubic meters in FY26, sir?

Yeah, I think so. I mean, with that growth number, yeah, I think that's what it could come to.

Okay, and of this, the 10MDF demand would be close to around 6 lakh cubic meter. Is it correct, sir?

Yeah, anywhere between 25 to, not 6 lakhs, but I would say about maybe 25 percent, 750 to 800.

Okay, and so my second question is like our understanding earlier it was that the Thinium-DF was majorly imported. Okay, now the imports have virtually become null. Then why we are not able to fully utilize our Thinium-DF plant in F526?

Well, you see, we set up a plant that was designed, I mean, which was capable to produce thin MDF at a very, you know, optimal, in a very optimal way, but it is not just a thin MDF plant. Now, you know, what we're doing is our capacities are sort of fungible across the three lines. Depending on what product we produce, which market we service, which grade we are producing, we choose to produce different products in different lines, also giving efficiencies, keeping efficiencies in mind, keeping freight costs in mind, and keeping in mind which line is the most optimal to produce which product. So, I think what is safe to assume in our case is total capacity utilization across the three lines. We don't have an allocated line for thin MDF for that matter, you know. There are instances, for example, that I am still producing a certain quantity of thin MDF in the north of India. Right? Because the North India can also produce thin MDF. So, I think it's not fair to say that that thin MDF line is only for thin MDF, and why are we not using capacity? Because we are calculating the whole capacity utilization in a different way.

Sir, I just wanted to understand, apart from us, is there any other player is also producing thin MDF in India?

Everyone is producing thin MDF in India.

Okay. And so, like, we are hearing from the dealers that the industry leaders have started providing around 4.5% to 5% discount last week to the dealers for NBA. And as you have mentioned earlier that…

Sorry, I didn't understand. Can you be a little more specific? 4.5% to 5% discount? When? Exactly is what you…

So, like what we are hearing is that the industry leader has started providing 4.5% to 5% discount to their leaders for MBR from last week. So, and you have mentioned that we might be taking a similar action, maybe, if the industry leader continue with such a discounting structure, then is it correct to understand that our margin might come under pressure in the near future?

Well, you see, these discounts are not across the board to start with. Some of them are target-based. You know, some of them are geography-based. So, it's not a blanket sort of discount across the whole country and all products. Certain times, they're on more value-added products as opposed to – so, everyone modifies their schemes, you know, and the outflow is not necessarily 100% of what is offered. I would say that what is currently being offered or what you are hearing, I don't think it will significantly affect the long-term margins. These are modified on a month-to-month basis as well, and there's always a benefit factored in by offering these discounts, which then sort of negate the impact on the margins.

Okay, and for lastly, sir, like what would we have KPEX guidance for FI 27 and 28 and do we have any growth KPEX pipeline the next 12 to 24 month period?

So I'll let Sir Himanshu give you the CAPEX numbers exactly. But however, you know, at this point of time, I think as a company, our focus remains on, you know, our volume utilization in the, as Himanshu said, we're at about a 55 to 60% annual capacity utilization. The focus remains on increasing this and optimizing our sort of product mix. And I would say that in this year, there will definitely be no plans of significant CapEx announcement. What we may do is that I think next year, we will start evaluating this. We also want to focus on extending our balance sheet and bringing our debt down. So that would be the focus on the current year.

Okay.

So the CAPEX, you know, in terms of what we are planning to do is just sustain in some of the, you know, the basic CAPEX that is required. So I think it would be something between 20-30 crores, not more at this point in time.

Thank you. Before we take the next participant, reminder to everyone to ask a question, you may please press star and one now. The next question is from the line of Vicky Vaghwani from Guardian Capital Partners. Please go ahead.

Thank you for the opportunity.

My first question is, please, if you can give capital utility, sir, I'm not in first land.

Sorry, you're not audible, sir. Sorry.

Hello, I'm audible now. Mr. Vagvani, we are sorry, we are unable to hear you clearly, sir. Hello, I'm not audible now. Your voice is breaking in between. I'll rerun the queue. Surely, thank you very much. Participants who wishes to ask a question, please press star and 1. The next question is from the line of Varun Jola Sariya from 361 Capital. Please go ahead.

What would be our mix between B2B and, say, D2B channel? Sorry, B2B and? And normal retail channel, like.

So, see, majority of our volumes are going to the retail channel, Varun. The only B2B sales that are happening are two large format OEMs. And, you know, that would be to the tune of maybe 7,000 to 8,000 cubic meters every month. Not more than that. So, I would say about 15 to 20 percent.

And so on the brand aspect, I just wanted to understand, given that now GreenPly is also expanding significantly, and obviously for customers, it might be a bit more confusing, like there are two green brands. So how do we like differentiate and, you know, let's say like, you know, that our brand is like a different than the GreenPly one?

Well, I think in the MDF business, it is quite, you know, established as to what green panel is and what green ply is. So, unfortunately, this is still a very influencer-driven market for the time being. It's not an end-consumer decision-making market. So in those segments, we already have quite distinctive places and names within the industry. So we don't foresee a major challenge for the time being.

And sir, on the plywood side, like, what is the strategy? I mean, we saw some improvement, really good improvement this quarter. So, any outlook there, like, you know, what is the outlook on the growth and margin?

So, you know, as I mentioned last year as well, you know, given the current situation, we definitely want to be very focused on the plywood business. We consider ourselves to be a very small player and not a very, I would say, a significant player given the size of our peers. But for us to maintain interest in this business, there is no two ways about it. We have to increase volumes. We already have certain plans in the pipeline subject to our existing volumes being fully utilized. This could be an addition of capacity at an existing location with a very minimal investment and, going forward, an additional investment in another location. However, I think it's too premature to decide that, you know, at the moment, a lot of the growth for plywood companies are also coming inorganically by way of trading. You know, our trading volumes are limited to the extent where we want to support our dealers to sell our main product. And we give them the trading material only to that extent. However, that market also remains a very large market. A lot of the bigger players, their growth is coming primarily from that business, which is the outsourcing business. So we have multiple avenues to explore this. Of course, our prerequisite as a company and internally remains that our existing capacities have to be fully utilized before we think about expanding in any which way.

And just last question, sir, if you could just give us like on the value added mix in the other segment, on how much is our prelim and the other value added products, like what is the proportion?

Hey, Mansu, would you have those numbers exactly? Yeah, yeah, sure, sure, sure. You have a total number.

Yeah, so value added is approximately 43% by volume in the last fiscal, 55% by value. And when I say high value, you know, it's pre-LAM. Sorry. So when I say high value, it's basically pre-LAM Varun. It's basically all the higher density products, which is exterior, high density products, HWRs, etc. Right? Every chlorine, etc. All of that is high value for us.

And what is the typical margin, like, difference between when we say pre-LAM or, you know, value-added versus the normal plain MDR?

So plain MDR versus pre-LAM could be as high as 50% also. So it depends on the nature of the product. High density products could be as high as 30% also.

No, sorry, are you referring to margins or you're referring to price differences? Yeah, yeah. No, no. I'm thinking... I might have to do an exact number on these products' margins. They vary geographically as well. No, no, no. Yeah, yeah.

I was talking more about a price differential. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Price differentials, not margin differences.

Okay, and on plywood when we were talking, so is it fair to assume that now onwards will be at least on 6-7% margin or more than that on the annualized basis, given that now this quarter we had a substantial improvement?

Sorry, I didn't care.

Sorry, I had a. On the plywood side, is it safe to assume that now our margins will be, you know, above 5-6% at least? On an annualized basis, a bit of margin per plywood segment.

So, we did something like 4%, you know, yes, if we are able to do more volumes, automatically, you know, the operational efficiencies kick in, yeah? So, the advantage on operating leverage, operating efficiencies, all of that get kicked in, yes. So, we should.

Thank you, sir. That's all.

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Anu Parag from Manand Rathi. Please go ahead.

Yeah, hi, sir. So the first question is, how much price had we taken plywood in Q4, FY26, and or till date?

So Anu, we have taken a 6% price increase on plywood starting this quarter.

Okay. And, sir, how much the chemical prices have gone up at present compared to the Q4, FI26 level?

Are you referring to, like, all the, like, chemical, I mean, again, they vary chemical to chemical, but I think overall I would say chemical costs must have gone up at least 40 to 45 percent.

Okay. And first, what was the reason that our CAPEX cost per unit for 10 MDF units is higher compared to the new CAPEX announcements made by GreenPly or CenturyPly?

I think the primary difference would be 100% European line compared to

Chinese lines. Hello, are you there?

Yes, yes, sir.

Sorry, ours was a 100% European investment.

Okay.

Yeah.

Perfect, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Participants are wishes to ask a question at least first hour and one. The next question is from the liner Shruti Mulsandani from Ikigai Asset Management. Please go ahead.

Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. So, sir, I've been looking at the balance sheet that you have posted, you know, with the results, and I can see a stark increase in the data days. So, something which was 11 days in FY25 has gone up to 21 days now. Is this because, you know, your growth in the project business and the export business has been higher, or is this because of the strategy that you have been following where you want to gain market share, so you have been giving higher period, credit period to your dealers?

You want to answer that? Yeah, okay.

So you're right. You know, Shruti, our DSOs have gone up. You know, they've moved up from 11. But if you see, otherwise, you look at the patterns across all the quarters that have been reported in the past also. We've been operating at 18, 20, 21 days kind of a cycle. And part of that is also an account of higher OEM sales or higher exports coming into play. For the very clear reasons that we are putting in, you know, more efforts to put up more and more volumes. Please do remember, even at 21 days, we are still far better than the entire industry, which operates at a much higher number.

Also, I think one thing to factor in would be the fact that the last week of March, the sales were abnormally high, which would reflect in that number, right, Himanshu?

Yeah, yeah, but every quarter that happens. So, you know, every month, every quarter, that's a similar part. But March was abnormal. Yeah. Yeah, because of the price increases coming into play. Yes, you're right. Otherwise, it could happen. Then the sales would happen.

Understood. And so, secondly, in your presentation, you have mentioned that in FY27, we focus on raw material mix rationalization. So, what do you mean by rationalization and raw material mix, and how can that help in the margins going ahead?

That's largely an ongoing thing that we do.

Sorry, sorry. No, but you see, we were, see, we were, so we were, you know, we were, again, the very first company in the industry to move away from eucalyptus to other timber species which were cheaply available. So, you know, we continue to pursue the objective because at this point of time, unfortunately, because of the competitive scenario, sales prices are defined by the competition in general. You know, it's not directly in a control. So, in order to improve margins, the only thing that we can play with is, you know, rationalization of raw materials as well as on the fixed cost side. So on the resin side, we're continuing to find solutions to improve resin cost, improve consumptions. And again, on the timber front, you know, we're trying to do the same. Now, North India, for example, other species pricing is coming very close to that of eucalyptus. Eucalyptus does tend to give us better efficiencies in the plant. So it's an ongoing process. I think it was just a statement to make for us to highlight that.

Sir, any margin benefits you can quantify from moving away from eucalyptus and to other species?

Well, I think that's reflected, you know, for example, in the south of India, eucalyptus continues to be about 20 to 25 percent more expensive than other species. But, again, availability and how far you have to transport the other species also come into play. So we have to find the right mix as to what's available and at what average cost. But in the north of India, for example, because it's so close, we will have a much higher percentage of eucalyptus consumption. So that would vary plant to plant and location to location.

This was helpful. Thank you for the guidance.

Thank you.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question. I now hand the conference over to management for closing comments.

Thank you, everyone, for joining this call. We look forward to speaking to you again next quarter. If anyone has any further questions, please do feel free to reach out to us. And have a good evening. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. On behalf of Cain Panel Industries Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.