News
Puttalam’s coconut husk industry in peril as big-timers bypass domestic producers
View(s):By Hiran Priyankara Jayasinghe
The rise in coconut husk prices due to big companies buying them in bulk is threatening to put hundreds of home-based husk-chip producers out of business along with thousands of others who directly or indirectly benefitted from the trade in the Puttalam District.
These small-time industrialists, many of whom have been in the business for more than 20 years, say the price of coconut husk has risen from Rs 2 a few years ago to between Rs 15 and Rs 20, making it difficult to continue the business. They are largely from the Puttalam District’s Anamaduwa, Pallama, Maha kumbukkadawala, Chilaw, Mundalama and Wanathamulla areas.
For their plight, they blame big-time industrialists, who, they say, buy the husks at a higher price from coconut planters and make chips themselves instead of buying them from the home-based industrialists.
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- W.K. Dharmasena
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- Chathuranga Kelum
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- P.A.D. Sudharshani: Hundreds of home-based husk-chip producers are being pushed out of business. Pix by Hiran Priyankara
A.H.M. Karunawathi, who has been in this business for about 10 years and employs about 20 workers, said the backlash occurred when the companies that bought coconut husk chips from her started making them themselves with their own machines.
“Now there is a battle between large-scale industrialists and us. They pay higher prices and are winning the battle. We cannot compete with them. If we are to pay a higher price, then we will not be able even to cover our daily expenses,” she said.
Chathuranga Kelum of Kumbukkadawalas, another small-timer, said, “We were doing well, earning an income to look after the needs of our families. But now we can’t compete with those rich industrialists who are big-time exporters.
“The prices these companies pay for husk chips are not even sufficient for us to buy coconut husks. Then what about the electricity bill and labour cost?”
W.K. Dharmasena, another home-based husk chip producer, said that for them to survive and run their businesses, the price of coconut husk should be at least Rs 10. The big businessmen pay higher prices and buy lorry loads of husks from coconut planters, he said.
P.A.D. Sudharshani said her income was not even enough to cover the expenses of her schoolgoing children. “We made chips from coconut husks and sold them to companies, but now they do it themselves, depriving us of our income and putting us in difficulty. When our business was flourishing, we took our children to school, came back home to make coconut husk chips, went to school to fetch our children and got back home to make chips. But now we can’t do it.”
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