J.S.Amarnath, M. Brindha
India is the largest coir producer in the world accounting for more than 80 per cent of the total world production of coir fibre. Countries like India, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Vietnam, and Caribbean Countries produce Coir. Coir’s global production is about 350,000 tonnes. India and Sri Lanka being the major producers of coir, account for 90 per cent of the world production.. The coir industry is contributing significantly for creation of livelihood in major coconut growing States and union territories of India like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa, Orissa, Assam, Andaman and Nicobar, Lakshwadeep and Pondicherry. Kerala had exported 73,665 tonnes of products valued at Rs 709.58 crore in 2013-14. In India, Allepy district in Kerala state is the coir hub and is the major deciding factor of coir trade in India. The rate of coir is mainly fixed in other markets of India on the basis of Allepy market. Tamil Nadu is the second largest producer of Coir fiber in the country after Kerala. Tamil Nadu produces 60 per cent of the total coir yarn, but only a little is being used for making value-added products. The total area of the coconut cultivation in Tamil nadu is 3, 57, 100 hectares and production is 3243.50 million and the productivity is 9083 nuts per hectare which surpasses the all India average productivity of 6632 nuts per hectare. There are about 1300 coir processing units in the State out of 10000 units in the country.In Tamilnadu, coir is mainly produced in Pollachi taluk of Coimbatore district, Kanyakumari and Nagercoil districts due to its large area under cultivation of coconut which is due to suitable climatic conditions available in these regions for fibre production. Besides these, coir rope making cottage industries are available in Dindigul taluk, Palani taluk and some regions of Salem district. As per the data available with Coir board regional office in Pollachi, there are 600 coir industries in Pollachi taluk. The main products obtained from these industries are coir fibre (white and brown) and coir pith blocks. . In the brown coir fiber sector, Tamil nadu occupies the first place with a production of 1.33 lakh Million Tonne per annum and contributing to 65 per cent of total production in India. This speaks of the immense potential of the coir industry in Tamil Nadu especially in Pollachi district. But enough studies are not available on the economics of investment in this industry and also the export analysis of this sector and hence the present study was taken up in Pollachi district.
Coir Enterprise