At the buyer-seller meet organized as part of the ongoing Coir Kerala Fest, for the first time, the Kerala State Coir Corporation has received a contract for the sale of coir products from the domestic market.

Trade agreements have been inked that will give a domestic-market fillip to the coir industry in Kerala. Trade agreements to the tune of Rs. 250 crore have been signed at the buyer-seller meet, aimed at both the foreign and domestic markets.

A press note issued here said that the government of Maharashtra had come forward to purchase equipment fashioned at factories that make coir-related machinery. The Small-Scale Industries Development Corporation of the government of Maharashtra has given a Rs. 2.32-crore contract for a coir-machine-making factory.

The contract includes the purchase of electronic ratts, mini de-fibring machine, automatic spinning machine, and hydraulic baling press.

Apart from Maharashtra, agreements to purchase similar machinery are expected to be entered into by the governments of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh. Last year, agreements worth Rs. 175 crore were signed.

The Corporation inked agreements with the Jharkhand Silk and Handloom Goods Development Corporation, the Handloom and Handicrafts Development Corporation of Assam, the Pradeshik Cooperative Federation of Uttar Pradesh, and the Handloom Development Corporation and Textile Board of Uttar Pradesh. An agreement has also been reached to sell coir products via the Central Police Canteen stores.

The PSU Foam Mattings Ltd. has received a Rs. 1-crore contract from the domestic market.

Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac announced a rebate of 5% in the price of goods for those who enter into an agreement at the buyer-seller meet.

Addressing the buyer-seller meet, Maharashtra Finance Minster Deepak Vasant Kesarkar said that the steps taken by Kerala for enhancing the livelihood of the common people, women in particular, were a model to other States.

The backing being given to traditional industries by the government was noteworthy. He also lauded the role played by cooperatives in the coir sector.

To promote use coir geo-textiles to protect the soil and water as part of the employment guarantee schemes of pachayats, contract was signed with panchayats as part of the Haritha Keralam Mission on Sunday.

The Thrikkunnapuzha panchayat in Alappuzha signed the biggest contract of Rs. 2.14 crore to use 3,30,769 sq ft of geotex.

Coir geo-textile worth Rs.100 crores is expected to be sold with the Kerala domestic market. A heritage museum for the coir industry in Kerala would be set up in Alappuzha.