Coir dragging down boats and buoys. The name coir comes from "kayar", the Malayalam word for cord. Ropes and cordage have been made from coconut fibre since ancient times. Indian navigators who sailed the seas to Malaya, Java, China, and the Gulf of Arabia centuries ago used coir for their ship ropes. Arab writers of the 11th century AD referred to the extensive use of coir for ship ropes and rigging. A coir industry in the UK was recorded before the second half of the 19th century. During 1840, Captain Widely, in co-operation with Captain Logan and Mr. Thomas Treloar, founded
Coir has been called "coco peat" because it is to fresh coco fibre somewhat like what peat is to peat moss, although it is not true peat. Coir waste from coir fibre industries is washed, heat-treated, screened and graded before being processed into coco peat products of various granularity and denseness, which are then used for horticultural and agricultural applications and as industrial absorbent. Usually shipped in the form of compressed bales, briquettes, slabs or discs, the end user usually expands and aerates the compressed coco peat by the addition of water. A single kilogramme of dry coco peat will expand