Coir exports jump 11%, earnings 7%

Coir export in 2005-06 jumped 11 per cent to an all-time high of 1,36,027 tonne. In value terms it rose 7 per cent to Rs 508.45 crore over the last financial year.

During 2004-05 total export was 1,22,927 tonne valued at Rs 473.40 crore.

Addressing a press conference AC Jose, chairman, Coir Board, said total export in 2005-06 had exceeded the target of Rs 490 crore. Coir and other coir based products had been exported to more than 80 countries with the US emerging as the largest consumer garnering 40 per cent of the total export. European nations together accounted for 41 per cent of the total export with the remaining 19 per cent shared by Canada, Japan, South Africa and UAE.

During 2003-04 total export was at 1,02,253 tonne valued at Rs 407.50. There has been a steady progress in export performance during the last three years. He said the truckers strike at Kochi port towards the end of the last financial year had affected the export of coir adversely.

During 2005-06 the board had participated in 11 international trade fairs and exhibitions and has recently modified its Export Market Development Assistance Scheme (EMDAS) to encourage more small scale exporters with an export turnover of less than Rs 2 crore to undertake promotional measures abroad. The board will provide Rs 1.5 lakh as air fare and stall rent, which was Rs 90,000, for merchant exporters.

Jose also said that in the case of exporters from areas outside Kerala the maximum limit of assistance would be Rs 1.75 lakh. The board is likely to introduce a health insurance scheme for the benefit of coir workers shortly. It had already started a personal accident insurance scheme from December 1 2005.

Jose added that the board would provide 10 per cent of the sales turnover as market development assistance to the outlets of co-operative societies and public sector undertakings. It also proposes to engage commission agents for promoting the sales of Hindustan Coir mattings.

Jose said that Central Coir Research Institute (CCRI), under the control of the Coir Board, had introduced various methods and machinery to produce more eco-friendly and useful products with coir. It recently designed and fabricated a versatile pneumatic loom to produce all types of mats and mattings. The loom which is capable of manufacturing products with least amount of drudgery will be commercially introduced shortly.

CCRI has also developed a new technology to treat the unsoaked green husk/dry husk fibre with a vegetable oil in water emulsion for improving softness for better spinning performance and output with partially no breakages during spinning. This process, he added, is a zero effluent process and saves the loss of fibres during soaking.

Coir Pith organic manure (C-Pom) has also been developed by the institute which can be utilised for different types of crops. CCRI recently demonstrated that coir geotextile can be used for construction of road surface and the state government had decided to construct one road in each district with this material on an experimental basis.

He said that so far the board had been granted Rs 103.58 crore as part of the 10th 5-year plan outlay and it is hopeful of utilising the entire allocation in the plan period. Total plan allocation for the development of the coir sector is Rs 115 crore.