From APCC Cocommunity Newsletter, December 2011
China is still the major buyer of coir products in the world market. For raw coconut fiber, the country absorbed about 64% of the total import demand amounting to 272,000 MT in 2010.
The import demand of China grew at a rate of 25.5% per annum during the period of 2004-2010. In the period of January-August 2011, China imported around 39,644 tons of mattress fiber from Sri Lanka. This is about more than 71% of total export from Sri Lanka. Other kinds of coir products such as bristle fiber, twisted fiber and coconut pith were also imported by China in big quantities from Sri Lanka.
A growing export of coir products from Indonesia to China, especially raw fiber, was also noted during the period from January to July 2011. Almost all of the Indonesian export of raw coir was sold to China during this period. The volume was 15,573 tons which was 97% of the total export of raw coconut fiber. Semi-processed fiber was also imported from Indonesia at 8,685 ton. The country earned about US$8.02 million from the trade during the said period.
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