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Coir Board seeks higher allocation

KOCHI: The Coir Board has sought higher allocation in the current budget to overcome the prevailing global economic slow down and the resultant impact on coir products exports.

In a memorandum submitted to Union Finance Minister Pranab Kumar Mukherjee, Board Chairman V.S. Vijayaraghavan said higher budget allocation was essential to strengthen steps to boost export promotion activities so as to reach the export target of Rs.1,000 crore by the end of the 11th five year plan from last year’s earnings worth Rs.634 crore.

The declaration of 2009 as the ‘Year of Natural Fibre’ by United Nations and the decision of the Inter Governmental Group of FAO to commemorate the year by creating greater awareness across the globe for high end use of natural fibres for the protection of ecology and environment needed to be utilised for promotion of coir products to more countries which required stepped up publicity programmes, he said.

The number of countries to which coir products were being exported had gone up to 105 at present from around 70 countries just three years ago.

The export earnings had shot up from Rs.508.45 crore during 2005-06 to Rs.634 crore during 2008-09, with the European Union countries accounting for 37.5 per cent of the total exports from the country. However, the USA turned out to be the single largest country with an off take of 33.8 per cent of the total exports.

In a separate memorandum, the Coir Board has also urged Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma, to extend various export incentives and concessions to coir products and exporters in the new five year Foreign Trade Policy for the period 2009-14 under finalisation to make Indian coir products competitive in the global market.

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