Lesser export of coir mats with PVC base due to increasing cost of crude oil has seen Indian coir exports lose both volume and value during May 2008.
While volume dropped by 3.1%, value fell by 8.2% when compared to the performance of May 2007. ?Tufted mats and traditional coir mats with PVC base are in great demand for its durability and flexibility,? KC Eapen, Coir Shippers Council told FE. ?The weakening of the rupee did not help the coir sector with input cost increasing in tandem,? he added.
Declining exports to traditional markets like the US and the change in the composition of the products has seriously affected the dynamics, Eapen said. “Traditional products like mats, rugs and matting have declining shares in the total exports. Increasing volumes have come from coir piths fibres and ropes. Export of value added products are slowing down,” he said. Strengthening of the rupee was serious concern in the last FY with increasing volume coming at lesser realisation. Coir exporters lost almost one- tenth of their earnings due to the strengthening of the rupee, Coir Board sources said.