Note: This is a preliminary transcript and may contain inaccuracies. It will be updated with a final, fully-reviewed version soon.
Greenpanel Industries Ltd (NSE: GREENPANEL) Q4 2026 Earnings Call dated May. 18, 2026
Corporate Participants:
Shobhan Mittal — Managing Director
Himanshu Jindal — Chief Financial Officer
Analysts:
Rishab Barar — Analyst
Praveen Sahay — Analyst
Keshav Lahoti — Analyst
Sneha Talreja — Analyst
Unidentified Participant
Presentation:
Operator
Ladies and Gentlemen, good day and welcome to Green Panel Industries Limited 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 Start and zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Gavin Deesa from CDR India.
Thank you. And over to you.
Rishab Barar — Analyst
Thank you. Good day everyone and thank you for joining us on Green Panel Industries Q4 and FY26 earnings conference call. We have with us today Mr. Shobhard 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 discussion may be forward looking in nature and may involve risks and uncertainties. A detailed statement in this regard is available in the result presentation which was shared with you earlier. I would now like to invite Mr.
Shobha Mittal to begin the call. Over to you Shobhan.
Shobhan Mittal — Managing Director
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 are 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 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 sales. Top channel partners were facilitated in Bali in Q1 followed by the announcement of a new foreign travel scheme in the second half FY26 great engagements were amplified.
Cumulatively more than 21,000 participants such as carpenters, contractors and sub dealers were connected with Green Panel under this drive revamped loyalty program app was launched in June 2025. The Mithra 2002.0 app 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, HID MDF and Fire Retardant MDF are launched in the first half of the year followed by the launch of the country’s strongest, toughest and heaviest boiling waterproof MDF ball in the second half.
These new product launches reflect our 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 MDL 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 four 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 four, 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 at ap, 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. 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 rupees 35.4 crores or 9.1% of revenues in Q4 while the full year number was rupees 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% of our raw material costs. Timber 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 meter 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 domestic demand MDF demand is expected to continue at a healthy pace of early double digit to mid teens. On our side, we operated at 60% capacity utilization in Quarter 4 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 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 increasing our relative market share while trying to maintain or improve our margins over the last year. With this request, I request our CFO Himanshu Jindal for the financial and other updates.
Thank you.
Himanshu Jindal — Chief Financial Officer
Thank you Shubinji. Good evening all. Since a lot has already
Shobhan Mittal — Managing Director
Been covered by Shubinji and we have already circulated
Himanshu Jindal — Chief Financial Officer
The three presentations
Shobhan Mittal — Managing Director
Exchanges, I’ll 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
Praveen Sahay — Analyst
As
Shobhan Mittal — Managing Director
Incidentally, we have volumes the domestic volumes by roughly 26% and the total volumes by 23%. In the last nine months of the last fiscal and with a clear focus on manufacturing cost inefficiencies, 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 crore on the bottom line during quarter four with a cumulative impact of 49 crores for the full year.
Apart from this, 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 pull air was 94.2 crores or 6.3% of our revenues. The PBT was negative 43.8 and the BAT was minus 29.1 crores.
On the balance sheet side, we have continued to stay strong at Coro. 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 crores at the end of March.
I think we can now request the moderator to open the Q and A, please.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
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 start and two participants are requested to use handsets 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 HDFC Securities. Please go ahead.
Keshav Lahoti
Hello. Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. Hello. Am I audible?
Operator
Mr. Lahoti, you’re sounding a little muffled. Can you please check?
Keshav Lahoti
Is it better now?
Operator
Yes, please go ahead.
Keshav Lahoti
Yeah. So my first question is what is the FY27 guidance for MDF volume growth and margin?
Shobhan Mittal
Himanshu, 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 going more than the market. Hopefully. Retaining our market shares or bettering them up on margins. You know, where we were 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, creative 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.
Keshav Lahoti
Understood. Okay, tell me one thing. The 15 price hike which you have taken in MDF, I will absorb the entire cost inflation or more price hike you need to take.
Shobhan Mittal
No, so that, that has, Keshav, that is just about absorbed our current cost inflation. However, you know what we, I mean, of course we are waiting and watching if there are any further significant cost increases that come into play. However, because of the muted sort of demand scenario at this point of time and 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, will cover all the cost increases that have, that have taken place so far.
Keshav Lahoti
Understood. And how, how has been the thing in this quarter because such a sharp, you know, price increases, the demand impacted how we have. Sorry, sorry, Keshav,
Shobhan Mittal
Again, your line’s not very clear. I can’t hear you.
Keshav Lahoti
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?
Shobhan Mittal
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, 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 demand, the price increase has fully been accepted and the demand is completely back to normal.
Keshav Lahoti
One last question from my side. If I see your volume, even just domestic sales growth sequentially, it is just a flattish to marginal degrowth in Q4 and the stocking has happened in March. Ideally this should have been a good quarter in terms of volume on the domestic side.
Shobhan Mittal
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, but before, just before the price increases were implemented.
Keshav Lahoti
So that is what I’m trying to understand, why the volume is still flat. Ideally C4 is a strong quarter with stocking happening. So what was missing year on year numbers is looking healthy. But how should we interpret the T1C number?
Shobhan Mittal
Because of certain, I mean there was a, there was, you know, there was a loss on the export side of our volumes for sure. You know,
Keshav Lahoti
The
Shobhan Mittal
Whole of March we were not able to sell any exports.
Keshav Lahoti
I got it. My question 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.
Shobhan Mittal
You see, if you look at it even from a last year perspective, Keshav, my volumes on the domestic product comparing Q4 to Q3 were relatively soft. This year the whole intent was to build up volumes continue at least with the RMS gains that I have seen throughout the last six months 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.
So that’s kind of grown by 26%
Himanshu Jindal
Which is I think a pretty healthy growth rate considering where we were earlier.
Shobhan Mittal
Keshav, we were also, 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 encash on the fact that hold back the expensive materials and try to try to sell it at a high price in the coming quarter.
Keshav Lahoti
So
Shobhan Mittal
It wasn’t a, it wasn’t a free for all volumes. You know, we had calculated volumes we wanted to supply at the old prices in the market.
Keshav Lahoti
Got it quite clear.
Shobhan Mittal
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Praveen Sahai from Prabhu Das Leelada. Please go ahead.
Praveen Sahay
Yeah, thank you for 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?
Shobhan Mittal
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 information is only out for a couple of them yet so far. But you know, obviously companies with a smaller, smaller starting base were able to grow at a higher pace. We can also see that there was, there was a, 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 teens to sort of high teens level.
Praveen Sahay
Right sir. And also you highlighted few new capacities are coming in mid of 27. So can you quantify how big those capacities are?
Shobhan Mittal
So I would say. Sorry, go ahead Himanshu.
Rishab Barar
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
Shobhan Mittal
Think the total size that we are looking at is 400,000 for the full year. Obviously 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
Praveen Sahay
Right now coming to the price hike of a 15% you had indicated. So this 15% is enough to compensate the chemical price increase which has impacted your number in Q4.
Shobhan Mittal
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 that those cost increases. However, you know, the situation remains fluid. Chemical costs are very volatile at this point in time. They move on a daily basis. So we’re also waiting and watching very carefully. And if they move up substantially then there could be another price increase that needs to be taken and which will decide accordingly.
Praveen Sahay
And as a whole industry is taking such kind of a price.
Shobhan Mittal
Yes, I would say this price increase in two phases which we took 5% plus 10% has been across the industry.
Praveen Sahay
Right sir. And 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?
Shobhan Mittal
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, overall raw material timber costs have been quite stable and we don’t expect it to move much in the current year.
Praveen Sahay
Right. And if you can give EPCC benefit for a quarter and a year.
Shobhan Mittal
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 that you know quarter 1 was 5, the next quarter was 6, quarter 3 was 8 and this quarter we have taken 6 crores as EPCJ. So overall 25 odd crores have been accounted for as EPCG in the year against 35 which was accounted 1 shot in quarter 4 last year.
Praveen Sahay
Right sir, thank you so much and all the best.
Shobhan Mittal
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sneha from Nuvama. Please go ahead.
Sneha Talreja
Thanks a lot for the opportunity. Couple of questions from my end. Firstly if I look at the domestic realizations now, they’ve been largely flatt. This is despite taking a significant price increase in the month of March. While I understand our focus has been in the volume. So could we get some flavor on the realization where are we headed?
Shobhan Mittal
No. So Sneha, the no price increase impact was actually effective in March. All sales that happened in the month of March was still at oil prices till 31st 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.
Sneha Talreja
So we’ll see the entire impact starting Q1.
Shobhan Mittal
Sure. So that would also be sort of, I would say, you know, the entire 15% will not be effective for the whole quarter because it got implemented in phases and there was a sort of a trickle effect of oil prices dispatched 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.
Sneha Talreja
Secondly, on the margin front or did I hear it correctly where you said that you know you’ve done higher single digit margin and you like to maintain it or marginally improve it.
Shobhan Mittal
No, I think Himanshu can. No. So we expect margins. You know we want to be very cautious in giving a margin guidance at this point of time to be honest with you because there is 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’s not letting us fulfill any kind of export business 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.
Sneha Talreja
Got that? And lastly on the EPCG benefit, sir, 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 June FY27 or can that be, you know, carried forward in the coming quarters as well? I mean, coming year.
Shobhan Mittal
Well again, you know, this benefit is directly linked to the volume of exp 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 there might. It might trickle on to the next financial year as well. Portion of this.
Sneha Talreja
All the best.
Shobhan Mittal
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Utkarsh Nupani from Anandrati. Please go ahead.
Himanshu Jindal
Yeah, hi sir. So my first question is regarding the industry side. So just wanted to understand what would be the MDF industrial demand in FY26 and if you can also split it between the thick MDF demand and the thin MDF demand in FY26.
Shobhan Mittal
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 a 15% growth in the. On the market size which is what it has been historically growing at. Thin MDF traditionally remains about 20 to 25% of the. Of the entire market compared to of the whole 100%.
Himanshu Jindal
Okay. So like in the last Q4 earning call it was indicated to us that the India’s demand was close to around 2.6 to 2.7 million cubic meter. 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 meter in FY26?
Shobhan Mittal
Yeah, I think so. I mean with that growth number. Yeah, I think that’s what it would come to.
Himanshu Jindal
Okay. And of this the thin MB of demand would be close to around 6 lakh cubic meter. Is it correct? Yeah,
Shobhan Mittal
Anywhere between 25 to not 6 lakhs. But I would say about maybe 25%. 750 to 800.
Himanshu Jindal
Okay. And so my second question is like our understanding earlier it was that the thin MDF was majorly imported. Okay. Now the imports have virtually become null. Then why we are not able to fully utilize our thin MDF plant in FY26?
Shobhan Mittal
Well, you see we, 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 plan. 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 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.
Himanshu Jindal
I just wanted to understand apart from us whether any other pair is also producing thin MDF in India.
Shobhan Mittal
Everyone is producing 10 MDF in India.
Himanshu Jindal
Okay. And for like we are here. Yeah. So my next question is like hearing from the dealers that the industry leader has started providing around four and a half to five percent discount last week to the dealers for NBA. And as you have mentioned earlier that. Sorry,
Shobhan Mittal
I didn’t understand. Can you be a little more specific? 4 and a half to 5% discount. When exactly is what you. I didn’t.
Himanshu Jindal
So like what we are seeing that the industry leader has started providing 4 and a half to 5% discount to their leaders for MBF from last week. So. 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 in near future?
Shobhan Mittal
Well, you see these discounts are not across the board to start with. Some of them are target based, 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 and the outflow is not necessarily 100% of what is offered. So 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.
You know these are modified on a month to month basis as well and there’s always a, there’s always a benefit factored in by offering these discounts which then sort of negate the impact on the margins.
Himanshu Jindal
Okay. And for lastly sir, like what would be our CAPEX guidance for FY27 and 28 and do we have any growth capex pipeline the next say 12 to 24 month period?
Shobhan Mittal
So I’ll let 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 said we are at about a 55 to 60% annual capacity utilization. The focus remains on increasing this and optimizing sort of a product mix. And I would say that in this year there would 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 bringing, extending our balance sheet and bringing our debt down.
So that would be the focus on the current year. So the CapEx, you know in terms of what we are planning to do is just sustainance or you know the basic CAPEX that is required. So I think it would be something between 2030 crores, not more
Himanshu Jindal
At this point
Shobhan Mittal
In time.
Operator
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 Vagwani from Guardian Capital Partners. Please go ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Thank you for the opportunity. My first question is.
Shobhan Mittal
Sorry, you’re not audible sir. Sorry.
Unidentified Participant
Hello, I’m audible now.
Operator
Mr. Bhagwani, we are so really sorry we are unable to hear you clearly. Sir.
Unidentified Participant
Hello.
Operator
Your voice is breaking in between.
Unidentified Participant
I’ll rejoin with you
Operator
Surely. Thank you very much. Participants, who wishes to ask a question please press star and 1. Next question is from the line of Varun jala Sariya from 361 Capital. Please go ahead.
Keshav Lahoti
What would be our mix between B2B and say.
Shobhan Mittal
Sorry B2B and
Keshav Lahoti
Normal retail channel.
Shobhan Mittal
So see majority of our volumes are going through the retail channel. The only B2B sales that are happening are two large format OEMs. And you know that would be to the tune of maybe 7 to 8,000 cubic meters every month, not more than that. So I would say about 15 to 20%.
Keshav Lahoti
And sir, on the brand spec I just wanted to Understand, given that now Greenfly is also expanding significantly and obviously for a customer it might be a bit more confusing. Like there are two green brands. So how do we like differentiate and you know, say like, you know, that our brand is slightly different than the C Green Taiwan and from the customer? Well, in the
Shobhan Mittal
Mdf, 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 there for the time being.
Keshav Lahoti
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 margin?
Shobhan Mittal
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 our 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 in 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.
Keshav Lahoti
And this last question, sir, if you could just give us like on the value added mix in the MBF segment, on how much is the prelab and the other value added products, like what is the proportion of Himanshu,
Shobhan Mittal
Would you have those numbers? Exactly. Total number, yeah, total,
Rishab Barar
Yeah. So value added is approximately 43% by volume in the last fiscal,
Shobhan Mittal
55% by value.
Keshav Lahoti
And when I say high value
Shobhan Mittal
You know, it’s prelim. Sorry, so when I say high value, it’s basically prelim. Varun. It’s basically all the higher density products, which is exterior high density products, HDWRS, etc. Right. Every chlorine, etc. All of that is high value for us.
Keshav Lahoti
And what is the typical margin like difference between when we say prelam or value added versus the normal plain MDF?
Shobhan Mittal
So plain MDL versus pre lamp 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 difference?
Keshav Lahoti
No, no, I’m saying it’s
Shobhan Mittal
Hard to give you exact number on each forex margins, but they vary geographically as well. They vary. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was talking more about a price differential. Yeah, price differentials, not margin differences.
Keshav Lahoti
Okay. And on plywood when we were talking. So is it fair to assume that now onwards we’ll be at least on 6, 7% margin or more than that on the annualized bas? Given that now this quarter we had a substantial improvement.
Shobhan Mittal
Sorry, I didn’t get. Sorry.
Keshav Lahoti
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 EBITDA margin for plywood segment?
Shobhan Mittal
So we did something like 4%, you know. Yes. If we are able to do more volumes automatically the, you know, the operational income efficiencies kick in. Yeah. So the, the advantage on operating leverage, operating efficiencies, all of that get kicked in. Yes. So we should.
Keshav Lahoti
Okay, thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Anuparak from Anandrati. Please go ahead.
Sneha Talreja
Yeah. Hi sir. So the first question is how much price act did we take in plywood in Q4FY26 and until dates.
Shobhan Mittal
So Anu, we have taken a 6% price increase on plywood starting this quarter.
Sneha Talreja
Okay. And how much the chemical prices have gone up at present compared to the Q4 FY26 level?
Shobhan Mittal
Are you referring to like all the like chemical? I mean they again they vary chemical to chemical. But I think overall I would say chemical costs must have gone up at least 40 to 45%.
Sneha Talreja
Okay. And sir, what was the reason that our capex cost per unit for thin MDF unit is higher compared to the new capex announcements made by Green ply or century fly?
Shobhan Mittal
I think the primary difference would be 100% European line compared to Chinese lines. Sorry. Hello. Are you guys Are you there?
Sneha Talreja
Yeah, yeah. Yes, sir.
Shobhan Mittal
Sorry. Ours was a 100% European investment.
Sneha Talreja
Okay.
Shobhan Mittal
Yeah.
Sneha Talreja
Thank
Unidentified Participant
You.
Shobhan Mittal
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Participants, who wishes to ask a question, please press star and 1. The next question is from the line of Shruti Mulchandani from Ikegai Asset Management. Please go ahead.
Unidentified Participant
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 day. So something which is 11 days in FY25 has gone up to 21 days now. So is this because, you know, your growth in the project business and the export business has been higher, or this is because of the strategy that you have been following where you want to gain market share, so you have been gaining higher period credit dealers.
Shobhan Mittal
Himanshu, 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 a 18, 20, 21 days, kind of a cycle. And some 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 more efforts to put up more and more volumes.
Please do remember,
Keshav Lahoti
Even at 21 days, we are still far better than the entire industry, which operates at a much higher number.
Shobhan Mittal
So 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?
Himanshu Jindal
Yeah, yeah. But every quarter that happens. So, you know, you know, every month, every quarter that’s a similar.
Shobhan Mittal
March. March was abnormal. Yeah, yeah. Because of the price increases coming into play. Yes, you’re right. Otherwise it could have. Then the sales would have. So,
Unidentified Participant
Understood. And so secondly, in your presentation, you have mentioned that, like in FY27, we’ll focus on raw material mix rationalization. So what do you mean by rationalization in raw material mix? And how can that help in the margins going ahead?
Shobhan Mittal
That’s.
Himanshu Jindal
That’s largely an ongoing thing that we do. Yeah, Sorry. Sorry. You see,
Shobhan Mittal
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. 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 our 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 improvements, consumptions. And again, on the, 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 we’re just, you know, it’s an ongoing process. I think it was just a statement to make for us to highlight that.
Unidentified Participant
Understood. So any margin benefits you can quantify from moving away from eucalyptus and to other species?
Shobhan Mittal
Well, I think that’s reflected, you know, for example, in the south of India, eucalyptus continues to be about 20 to 25% 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.
Unidentified Participant
Understood. This was helpful. Thank you for the guidance.
Shobhan Mittal
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. That was the last question. I now hand the conference over to management for closing comments.
Shobhan Mittal
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
Operator
You. On behalf of Keen Panel Industries Ltd. That concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. And you may now disconnect your lines.