Strong Rupee shaves off Rs 68 crore from coir exports value

Kochi, Dec 24 (UNI) The appreciation in the rupee shaved off more than Rs 68 crore from the value of the Indian coir exports during April to November, 2007, Coir Board Chairman A C Jose said today.

In a statement here, Mr Jose said while in volume terms, the exports went up by 20.47 per cent, in rupee terms, the increase was only 2.5 per cent.

The country exported 118,158 tonnes of coir products worth Rs 387.11 crore during this period.

''It appears that the 12.5 per cent appreciation in the Rupee against the US$ has impacted coir exports. Had the Rupee appreciation not dented coir exports, the value realization would have gone up by another Rs 68.27 crore,'' he added.

India exports coir products to more than 97 countries with the USA being the single largest market with a share of more than 40 per cent. The European countries together account for another 41 per cent of the Indian coir exports.

Coir is exported in the form of raw materials like coir fibre, yarn and curled coir, furnishing articles like door mats, matting, rugs, carpets, coir rope and rubberized coir and its products, pith based products for agricultural operations and soil erosion control materials and coir geotextiles.

UNI