SHEELA FOAM FOCUSING ON EXPORTS, IMPORT SUBSTITUTION

New Delhi, June 27: Sheela Foam Ltd, maker of popular mattress brand Sleepwell, is looking at exports and import substitution as the next big opportunities for itself, leveraging "on China becoming weaker on sentiments" in the global markets, according to the company’s managing director Rahul Gautam.

The company, which recently completed 50 years of operations, is also looking to expand into beddings related areas such as bedsheets, comforters, duvets, and beds and bedroom furniture as it embarks on the journey for the next half century.

"Post-corona, I think, there are two things which are coming out as glaring for us. Number one is exports. Till date we could not have thought that we would be able to export voluminous items like mattresses, but with China suddenly becoming weaker on sentiments and other things, that opportunity has come by and we're trying to take full advantage of that," Gautam told PTI.

Earlier, the company wasn't too focussed into exports although it was shipping some quantity to the US from India.

"Foam products are very voluminous and the freight costs are very high. There was no background or system for exporting polyurethane foam, except that China had learned to compress the mattress into a small box and put it on a ship and send it across. And that's the technology that we use now," he said.

At present, Sheela Foam has a presence in Spain and Australia. The company also uses its Spanish operations to export to the US market.