The Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry has classified Pollachi as a ‘Town of Export Excellence’ for coir and coir products, according to a communication dated January 29 from the Ministry.

“The tag itself is a brand that Pollachi will benefit from,” said S. Mahesh Kumar, president of the Coir Pith Exporters' Association.

Export turnover

According to Pollachi Member of Parliament K. Shanmugha Sundaram, the annual coir and coir product export turnover of the town is more than ₹ 1,000 crore. The recognition is one of the long-pending demands of the coir industry in Pollachi. Nearly 28,000 containers of coir products are exported out of Pollachi every year.

Inland Container Depot

With the recognition, Pollachi can get an Inland Container Depot (ICD) or container stuffing facility. The town will be listed in the Ministry’s portal. This will enable overseas buyers identify Pollachi to source their coir needs. Further, nationalised banks will also be willing to lend more to the sector.

Mr. Mahesh Kumar added that there are certain common facilities that the industry cannot invest and develop without government support. Pollachi is now recognised as a town that specialises in coir and its byproducts. With this it can have more cluster programmes and common facilities such as testing laboratory and ICD. Not only coir product exporters, but the domestic industry will also benefit from this. They can look at developing new products and have common infrastructure.

The coir and by-products industry in Pollachi will look at developing an industrial park with integrated facility. If the government can allocate land for the project, all the required facilities can be developed.

Rail transport

On the need for ICD, he said the exporters now send consignments by road to Thoothukudi or Kochi. If there is rail transport facility from Pollachi, the logistics cost will reduce and make the products competitive in the international market, he said.