Kerala’s traditional hand made coir yarn is set to make inroads into the Gulf markets as a substitute to synthetic yarn used in dates farm sector.

The Kerala State Coir Cooperative Marketing Federation popularly known as Coirfed has bagged an export order for coir yarn to Dubai as part of its efforts to explore the Gulf markets.

It is for the first time that Coirfed is exporting yarn for agriculture purpose to protect dates from falling off the palm.

The first consignment worth Rs 10 lakh has been despatched to Dubai recently.

K.M. Muhammed Anil, Managing Director, Coirfed, told Business Line that the company is expecting another export order worth Rs 1.5 crore from Oman to be followed by Egypt and Libya.

In the event of these orders materialising, it would open immense export potential for Kerala’s hand made coir yarn to the overseas markets.

It is after a decade’s gap that Coirfed was exporting coir yarn since the last export order from Italy in 2000, he added.

Overseas market

The company obtained the present order following its participation in the Domotex Middle East held in Istanbul last year where a team of buyers from West Asia had visited the Coirfed pavilion and held discussions with the Kerala Government officials.

Accordingly, an understanding was reached to export a special variety of coir yarn made in the Kozhikode region, he said.

Sales turnover

Coirfed, he said, had performed well in all spheres of business activity including in production, procurement, sales and in the last fiscal.

Its yarn procurement of around 70,000 quintals from various districts was the highest during the decade. Sale of coir yarn had also reached an all time high of Rs 30 crore while production of rubberised coir products rose by 30 per cent as compared to the previous year, he said.

K.M. Raju, Convener, Administrative Committee said that Coirfed had opened 68 new showrooms during the last fiscal, raising its total to 133 showrooms. The first overseas showroom was opened in UAE recently and the company is all set to open the second outlet in Oman to cater to Gulf markets, he said.

The sales turnover had touched Rs 50 crore in the last fiscal and the company has set a target of Rs 75 crore in 2013-14.

Coirfed is also seeking new avenues of diversification like use of coir pith as soil-less medium for precision farming, he added.

sajeevkumar.v@thehindu.co.in

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