A badminton coach running a mid-sized academy in Bengaluru has just booked a consignment of reasonably high quality feather shuttlecocks, the AS-2, at `2,700 per 12-piece tube. By the end of the year, he expects prices for the premier shuttles of the top brand to hit Rs 3,000, though 2024 had ended with the same shuttles costing Rs 1,200.
Word trickling out from China, and reported by the French media, attributes this price rise to a change in the Chinese palate — they are increasingly preferring pork to the age-old staple, duck meat. This alteration, it is said, means fewer ducks are being raised, resulting in a shortage of feathers to make badminton shuttles.
India national coach Pullela Gopichand says the issue is broader than just the immediate price rise, even existential. “The dependency on goose feathers, which we have, is a problem we need to address as a sport. The growth of the sport across three populous nations, India, China and Indonesia, has ensured that there is demand for raw material of goose feathers, which has gone up a lot. We need to find alternatives for it,” he said.
While researchers have long been looking for alternatives, the aerodynamics of feather shuttles make them unique and problematic at the same time. “We were hoping that the (feather) cloning mechanism could help or other material could help, but definitely it’s an issue that needs to be addressed by the federation or other badminton lovers,” said Gopichand.
Duck feathers are used to make relatively cheaper shuttles. Geese feathers are reserved for the elite ones because of their stronger stem, durability and lack of wobble. China’s cost-efficient factories harvest these feathers after the meat is consumed. But birds only reared for meat are unlikely to be reared exclusively for feathers.
The prices of imported shuttlecocks have steadily escalated over the last 16 months. The last stocks in Bengaluru came in for Rs 2,250, but a breach of the Rs 3,000-mark seems imminent.
The last two-three months have been particularly brutal on academies across the country. “It’s been substantial in the last two-three months. It kept rising 10, 20 percent, and is now 50 per cent,” says Aravind Samiappan, coach at the Chennai Fireball academy where Sankar Muthusamy Subramaniam trains.
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The shuttle costs, he says, were equal to the salaries of all coaches last month. “These are middle-level shuttles, and we were buying for about Rs 1,200, but it sharply went up to Rs 1,700, and for no reason. On top of that, they keep changing prices. I told them, just quote me an amount, I was ready to pay more. But even stocks are scarce,” he says, lamenting the suddenly rising running costs and uncertainty.
French newspaper L’Equipe recently reported on how a growing preference for pork (and red meat) in China, was leading to fewer ducks and geese being farmed in poultries.
Thailand, Malaysia are other duck-consuming nations, but Chinese cost-efficiency and availability of ducks led to a near-monopoly of production. Almost 90 percent of the factories of the top companies, Yonex and Li Ning, are based in China.
“I am not entirely convinced about the reason that all Chinese have suddenly stopped eating ducks, quite a delicious staple there,” laughs a Bengaluru coach. “But let’s just say, you can’t fault the Chinese for hoarding the shuttle stocks for their own centres first, if the raw material is indeed in shortage.” Upfront immediate payments by the Chinese also mean they are prioritised by manufacturers, rather than delayed invoices from exports.
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At the Ajit Wijettilek School of Badminton in Bengaluru, the rising shuttle prices are threatening to increase academy costs exponentially, and the coach calls the situation a “mighty headache”. While the numbers of youngsters picking the sport is through the roof (routinely above 1,000 entries for junior meets), the shuttle costs are the latest curveball thrown the sport’s way. A recent under-17 meet had 1,650 entries, while junior nationals routinely attract a number in the range of 4,000.
The mid-sized academy, which trains 32 shuttlers, needs four tubes at a go, at a minimum, and though they have been sourcing it from Lingmei, one of the third-rung Chinese shuttle makers, they have been hit equally hard as the academies sourcing Yonex or Li Ning products.
“We are all gone if this continues,” rues Prashanth, who runs a dealership in Karnataka. “Prices have increased by Rs 500, 600 in one go, and extra monthly costs are around Rs 50,000. In the last year and half, the price has increased ninefold. Even if we want, there’s no stock.”
AS-2s are the most basic among high-end shuttles. The best feathers, used at international meets, are tagged AS-30, 40 and 50. ACPTR shuttles are used in academies.
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“It is going to affect badminton big time. Even the middle class won’t be able to afford it,” says Mumbai coach Uday Pawar, where Chirag Shetty started. “It will be impossible for organisers to hold junior tournaments that go on for 9 days, with 5 days of qualifying.”
A 12 per cent GST gets imposed on all imported shuttles, which is substantial given the increased cost price. Pawar reckons there’s little to be achieved by figuring out just what is going on in China. “The most we can do is request our own government to reduce import duties and subsidize shuttles for us. The raw material shortage is a problem for the whole world, but India can at best not make it impossible for Indians to play by persisting with duties,” he says. “Before the sport goes out of everyone’s reach…”
