Virtually unknown till five years back, coir pith has helped create a healthy picture of the coir sector. During the first five months of this financial year, total coir sector exports has dropped to Rs 11,440.41 lakh on a total quantity of 23,890 tonne. During the same period last year, coir exports had earned Rs 12,116.39 lakh on a quantity of 23,092 tonne.

The cumulative increase in coir exports for the first five months of this year has been put at 798 tonne, a mere 3 per cent in terms of quantity. At the same time,there has been a cumulative decrease of Rs 675 lakh in the value of the earnings which is about 6 per cent.

Among the items that have suffered a setback in exports during the first five months of this year are coir yarn and coir braids, poles, bags, fenders and coir fancy items. Coir yarn exports have dropped to 4,239 tonne vis-a-vis the same period last year, when a total of 7,579 tonne was exported. Other coir items including coir fancy items, suffered a setback too with exports during the period under review touching only 443 tonne compared to the 875 tonne during the same period last year. Earnings from this category stood at Rs 166.31 lakh compared to the Rs 375.74 lakh during the same period of last year.

The coir exports during the last two years have been showing considerable improvement, despite the competition coir and coir products are facing from other naturally occurring fibre in the world market. During 1998-99, total coir exports was worth Rs 29,218.88 lakh on a total quantity of 55,490.01tonne. In 1997-98, export earnings stood at Rs 23,892.90 lakh on a total quantity of 49,849.77 tonne.

The coir fibre exports during the period under review have increased to 402 tonne worth Rs 60.23 lakh compared to the export earnings of Rs 42.98 lakh on a quantity of 298 tonne. Similarly, export of coir mat and mattings, rugs and carpets too have increased in both quantity and value terms. Rubberised coir exports during the period touched 189 tonne worth Rs 156.33 lakh compared to the 153 tonne worth Rs 108.98 lakh during the same period last year.

Coir geotextiles has not lived up to its potential with exports during the first five months of this year rising only marginally to touch 509 tonne worth Rs 216.80 lakh. During the same period last year, geotextiles exports stood at 433 tonne worth Rs 199.69 lakh.

Coir pith is finding favour in the western countries due to restrictions on the mining of peat moss, a medium used for gardening. Coir pith's ability to retain moisture has made it a great hit inthese countries. The destinations to which Indian coir pith is exported include France, The Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Israel and the USA.