Kochi, July 26 The Coir Board has sought higher allocation in the Budget to overcome the prevailing economic slowdown and the resultant impact on coir products exports.
In a memorandum submitted to the Union Finance Minister, the Board Chairman, Mr V.S. Vijayaraghavan, said higher Budget allocation was essential to mount multi-pronged steps to boost exports to reach the Rs 1,000 crore target by the end of the Eleventh Plan, from last year’s earnings worth Rs 634 crore.
He said the United Nations’ declaration of 2009 as the “Year of Natural Fibre” and the Inter-Governmental Group of Food and Agricultural Organisation’s move to create greater awareness for high end-use of natural fibres need to be used for the promotion of coir products to more countries. This requires stepped up publicity programmes on an extended scale.
The number of countries to which coir products were being exported had gone up to 105 from 70 three years ago, while export earnings had shot up from Rs 508.45 crore during 2005-06 to Rs 634 crore during 2008-09, with the European Union accounting for 37.5 per cent of the total exports.
However, the US turned out to be the single largest country with an offtake of 33.8 per cent of the total exports.
Side by side, the large untapped domestic market too needs to be reached, for which the meagre Budget outlay of Rs 7 crore was insufficient, the Board Chairman said.
The Coir Board had been receiving very low funding compared with other Commodity Boards with the Eleventh Plan outlay fixed at Rs 282.41 crore, of which Rs 99 crore had been earmarked as government grant for rejuvenation, modernisation and technology upgradation of the coir industry, he added.
In a separate memorandum, the Board has also urged the Union Commerce Minister 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.
Source : Business Line