The export of coir and its products rose 20 per cent to 3.35 lakh tonnes during the April-February period, 2011-12, Coir Board of India has said.
In value terms, coir shipments rose 8 per cent to Rs 771.08 crore during the same period, it said. The country had exported 2.80 lakh tonnes of coir and its products worth Rs 716.20 crore in the year-ago period.
In February, shipments of coir and its products rose to 41,158 tonnes, as against 30,622 tonnes in February 2011, while earnings went up marginally to Rs 70.65 crore from Rs 70.19 crore in the same period, Coir Board data said. Coir products include ropes, mattresses, rugs and carpets.
The government expects shipments of coir products to touch Rs 1,000 crore in 2011-12 on the back of growing demand from new markets such as Russia and Latin America.
India exports coir and its products to over 97 countries across the world with the US being the largest market.
Countries such as the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Australia, France, Spain, Canada, Japan, Greece, Sweden, South Africa, the UAE, Portugal, and Denmark are the other major markets of coir and coir products.
Export of coir and its products from India had touched an all-time high of 3.21 lakh tonnes valued at Rs 807.07 crore in 2010-11. The Coir Board has set an export target of Rs 2,000 crore for the 12th Five Year Plan period (2012-2017).
India and Sri Lanka are two major coir producers in the world and account for around 90 per cent of about 3.50 lakh tonnes of global production.