'Coir Kerala' the international festival of
coir products that was organized by the
Kerala state government generated record business worth Rs 100 crore in terms of export orders. This was the second edition of Coir Kerala, the first been organized last year. This is a steep hike over a mere Rs 10 crore of business generated in the last year's show as very few international buyers participated.
The festival lasted six days from February 4 to February 9 and saw participation from over 86 international buyers and 51 Indian companies - most of them being small and medium sized companies.
The coir industry, though a fledgling industry in India, is growing. Last fiscal 2010-11, the total coir exports from India were valued at Rs 807 crore. K Madanan, Director, Coir Development in the Government of Kerala, expects the coir exports to clock Rs 1,000 crore for the current fiscal closing March 2012, besides generating domestic business worth 1600 crore.
Kerala is the hub of coir products in India with Alappuzha district being the hive of activity. So while 90 per cent of India's coir products are made in Kerala, 99 per cent of production bases are concentrated in the Alappuzha district.
However, the coir industry has been facing several challenges, one of them being scarcity of coir fibre. In Kerala, coconut which is the major source of coir fibre, is mainly grown in homes - say, four or five trees per house. This poses challenges in collection of coconut husk. So over 50 per cent of the fibre has to be transported from Tamil Nadu where collection of raw husk is easier as coconut trees are grown in plantations.
"We are now trying to strengthen the collection mechanism and introducing smaller machines which can process as less as 2000 husks in a day. That will reduce dependence on Tamil Nadu," says Madanan. Apart from these steps, the resurgence or the coir industry has also been helped by improving the quality of the products and better packaging.
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