Over half-a-million coir workers are locking horns with half-a-dozen big-time coir exporters over the issue of fixing minimum export price for coir and coir products.

The big exporters who claim they handle about 85 per cent of the business are lobbying with the union commerce ministry and the Coir Board to do away with the minimum export price (MEP) stipulations while the coir workers, small coir units and units in the co-operative sector are taking to the streets demanding a hike in the MEP.

The row is likely to affect coir exports this fiscal and may adversely affect the expected boom in coir and coir products sales as part of the millennium celebration sales. Trade sources point out that the row, if not settled quickly, willonly benefit India's competitors as well as importers in major destinations.

The fresh row over MEP erupted with the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER), New Delhi, recommending late last month that MEP be taken away to give more freedom to the exporters. The Travancore Coir Factory Workers' Union, representing the interests of workers and small units in India's coir heartland, have taken to the streets demanding that the recommendation be ignored.

Leaders of the coir workers' union TJ Anjelose and MD Chandrasenan told The Financial Express that they will oppose tooth and nail any move by the Coir Board to do away with MEP. It was at the instance of the Coir Board that the NCAER made a study of the coir market both within and outside the country.While the NCAER recommendations are apparently aimed at helping Indian coir products compete in the world market, the coir workers feel threatened by the big sharks in the business.

The row which needs immediate attention from the Coir Board,is likely to help importers as they will be in an advantageous position when buying Indian products, trade sources point out.

The coir industry is facing a deceleration in sales this year owing to severe competition from other countries and other naturally-occurring fibres.The coir workers' leaders have blamed the Coir Board for siding with the big exporters in the issue. Chandrasenan said that the price of a square metre of coir mat in the US market has remained stagnant at $2 since 1980 while the price of raw materials has risen sharply in this period.

He demanded that the MEP price be raised so that the workers and small units involved in making coir products get a better deal from the exporters.The workers' contention is that once the MEP is taken away they will be at the mercy of the exporters. ``In the MEP, we have mechanism by which to know the earnings from exports,'' says Chandrasenan. If this goes, he says, they will have to take for truth the version of the exporters about the price of coirproducts in the international market.

He accused the Coir Board of giving into the demands of exporters and alleged that the country lost about Rs 40 crore in foreign exchange earnings as a result of a move by the board in 1997 to slash minimum export price by 20 per cent. The workers' unions have decided to intensify their agitation against the move to take MEP.

Coir export earnings have dipped 6 per cent, despite a growth in quantity of 3 per cent during the first five months of the current financial year. This is a reversal of the trends during the last two years when coir exports were tending to move higher despite competition from other countries and other natural fibres.

Coir and coir products exports this year stand at 23,890 tonnes worth Rs 11,440.41 lakh while during the entire 1998-99, it was worth Rs 29,218.88 lakh on a total quantity of 55,490.01 tonnes. In 1997-98, coir export earnings stood at Rs 23,892.90 lakh on a total quantity of 49,849.77 tonnes.