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L.N. Revathy

Coimbatore , Aug. 25

THE coir pith industry is confident of achieving a business volume of Rs 100-crore by 2010.

The industry, though relatively nascent in our country has managed to establish its position on the global arena. Industry insiders, however, lament that the lack of awareness of the coir pith's potential in its home ground had compelled them to eye the markets abroad.

The eco-friendly material is said to be replacing Pete Mass (dug from the swampy areas) and rock wool (used as a cultivation medium in the developed countries) as an effective soil bed under green house conditions. Industry sources say that the plant yield potential recorded significant improvement when coir pith was used as a cultivation medium. "The technology for using the coir pith as a soil bed is missing in our country. Not realising the value of the pith, the fibre manufacturers continue to dump the pith," the President of the Coir Pith and Allied Products Manufacturers and Exporters Association, Mr S. Maheskumar told Business Line.

"Coir pith is emerging as a dollar-earning product," Mr Maheskumar said.

Industry sources say that Sri Lanka was the only other country from where the Baltic countries sourced their pith requirements

"We are exporting about 30 to 35 containers of coir pith every month. Each container load is 20 to 25 tonnes. We can export a lot more, but the constraint is the rising freight charges and the lack of adequate shipping lines to compete with Sri Lanka in volume," he said.

Pith manufacturers state that the fluctuating freight rates make the business unviable.

Prices have also taken a beating. From a level of $220 to $240 per tonne of coir pith in the mid-90s, it has slipped by half to $120/tonne at present.

The industry has appealed to the Coir Board to extend a freight subsidy as the European countries sought to procure their requirements from Sri Lanka, apparently due to cost advantage.

Considering the rising number of players in the coir pith segment, the association has sought the attention of the Coir Board for establishing `Coir Pith Research Institute' in Tamil Nadu to ensure the quality standard of the pith. He said that adequate space for storing the collected pith was another major problem that some of the smaller units encountered. To tide over this problem, the industry is contemplating to request the State Government to earmark some land (waste land) that could be used as a common facility.

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