High energy, raw materials & packaging costs caused a June quarter loss of 120M/rupees at Sri Lankas's Ceylon Glass Co, compared with a 44M/rupee profit a year ago. Ceylon Glass (a unit of India's Gujarat Glass) said in a statement that management is confident of strong local & export sales growth & plans to raise prices to cover part of the increased costs should help the firm turnaround. "The major reasons contributing to the loss are energy costs, soda ash prices and other domestic raw materials & packaging material prices," the statement said. The cost of energy, constituting of furnace oil, liquefied petroleum gas & electricity, amounts to almost 40% of the cost of production. "Thus, steep increases in tariffs of any of these sources of fuel directly impacts the performance of the company," the statement said.
