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Small-scale coir manufacturers, exporters on a collision course

ALAPPUZHA: Small-scale coir manufacturers in the State are once again on a clash course with coir exporters alleging that the latter are violating an agreement signed by the exporters with the State government.

The manufacturers, under the umbrella of the Kerala State Small-Scale Coir Manufacturers’ Federation, are alleging that the exporters, who had agreed to the Purchase Price Stabilization (PPS) Scheme to avoid intermediaries from the scene, were now ‘cheating’ the State Coir Corporation by giving only five percent of orders to the Corporation and the rest to the same old intermediaries.

The situation has led to huge losses for the small-scale manufacturers, who are now planning a massive agitation.

“The government had agreed to amend its previous Purchase Price Enforcement Scheme, incorporating suggestions from the exporters, and to bring into force the PPS Scheme so that intermediaries, who never allow small-scale manufacturers to obtain reasonable prices, would be avoided.

The exporters were supposed to give their orders to the Coir Corporation, who would then give them to us.

However, exporters are still giving orders to the intermediaries and are cheating the government,” Federation president M.P. Pavithran told The Hindu.

The federation, which will submit a memorandum on the issue to Coir Minister G. Sudhakaran on Wednesday, is also planning to stage protests in front of export firms and to block the flow of coir products to intermediaries, that is, if the government does not intervene in time, Mr. Pavithran said.

According to the federation, the PPS scheme envisaged a five per cent discount and 60 days credit period for products ordered by exporters via the Coir Corporation. “Even after the State government has made such arrangements, for the benefit of exporters and to sustain the small-scale coir sector, exporters are trying to nurture the intermediary system, which the government itself has said, is harmful to the coir industry,” Mr. Pavithran said.

“If we approach the exporters asking them to buy products from us, they say they have given orders to the Coir Corporation.

However, the Corporation has got only five per cent of their orders and the rest go to the intermediaries who exploit gullible manufacturers by buying products from them at cheap rates,” he said.

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