Gandhinagar, April 13 -- Nearly 80 percent of small-scale detergent manufacturing units in Gujarat have shut operations, with the remaining units likely to cease production soon due to a sharp rise in raw material costs, industry associations have claimed.
The Gujarat Small Scale Detergent Manufacturers Association and the Soap and Detergent Association Gujarat attributed the shutdowns primarily to a steep increase in the price of Linear Alkyl Benzene Sulphonic Acid (LABSA), a key input used in detergent manufacturing.
Raw Material Prices Triple
According to the associations, the price of LABSA, also known as acid slurry, has surged from around Rs 105 per kg in November 2025 to Rs 135 per kg in February 2026, and further to nearly Rs 300 ...