Sri Lanka starts tech drive to safeguard global coir lead

Sri Lanka is the world’s largest exporter of coir fibre. Nevertheless, Sri Lanka’s coir industry is in urgent need for infrastructure upgrading for it to sustain its coir supremacy.

“New technology infusion to our coir sector can greatly enhance our coir appeal in the competitive global marketplace,” said Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen.

Bathiudeen announced this in the aftermath of signing of the MoU between the University of Moratuwa and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce to support new coir machinery development processes.

He also handed over Rs. 1.25 m in additional financing to Department of Electrical Engineering of the Moratuwa University on 5 January to further develop the already-successful coir automation machinery developed by the university with the assistance of initial funding by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in 2010 of Rs. 0.49 m.

“We need to increase value addition to our coir exports since 90% of our coir exports are in raw form. I am also given to understand by the Coconut Development Authority (CDA) of Sri Lanka, from the husks coming out of our total three billion units of annual coconut output, only 30% of the husks are converted into coir fibre. With the support of CDA, we can increase this percentage so that our coir industry readily benefits from it,” Bathiudeen revealed.

The Sri Lankan coir fibre used as inputs for many products, is one of the most sought after natural fibre products in the world. Sri Lanka produces 35% of the world’s natural coir output. Almost all the coir fibre produced here are natural with no synthetic fibre produced. 90% of coir exports are in raw form. The raw coir is exported to UK, France, Germany, India and China. The raw coir has the advantage of duty free entry for our coir export destinations but finished coir products exported are levied with various duties at the import country’s end.

As a result, Sri Lanka coir exporters find raw coir exports to be more attractive. According to the Export Development Board (EDB), the export revenue from coir based products from January to October 2011 stood at $ 51 m.

Export revenue from raw coir during the same period stood at $ 39.7 m. Around 200 coir mills are in operation in rural Sri Lanka mostly operating in primitive working conditions with out-dated technology (the industry is also faced with labour migration to other jobs and it has become difficult to get new recruits).

Seeing this trend, a new weaving machine has been developed by the Katubedda Engineering faculty successfully, which increased the coir based geo-textile weaving speed by 35% while also reducing the number of labourers needed per machine from three to one. But the project was put on hold by the university due to lack of funds for further development.

The latest round of funding by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce is aimed at reviving the project immediately.

University of Moratuwa Vice Chancellor Prof. A.K.W. Jayawardane addressing the occasion said: “The Moratuwa University is thankful for the continuous support it receives from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce for a variety of its projects that aim at value addition. We are always ready to share our knowledge and expertise for industrial development.”