Coconut oil exports drop in January as drought impact kicks in!

Manila, Philippines - Business World.

THE COUNTRY’s coconut oil exports posted a 34.39% annual drop in January, as damage wreaked on coconut plantations by the dry spell in the first half last year starts weighing on the product, preliminary industry data released on Friday showed.

Specifically, coconut oil exports dropped to 96,425 metric tons (MT) last month from 146,971 MT in January last year, data released by an official of the United Coconut Association of the Philippines (UCAP) showed.

The industry official blamed lower coconut production for the decline.

"There was no decrease in demand from international markets," UCAP Executive Director Yvonne V. Agustin said in a phone interview.

"However, for coconut production, we were really expecting lower production this year, especially during the first semester, due to the lingering effect of El Niño last year," she explained.


Coconut production is expected to drop 15.65% to 2.415 million MT, in copra terms, from about 2.863 million MT last year.

Consequently, UCAP expects coconut oil exports to drop 32.33% to 900,000 MT this year from 1.33 million MT in 2010.

Coconut oil exports last year exceeded the industry’s target of 1.297 million MT, although they still fell short of the Philippine Coconut Authority’s target of 1.36 million MT. The surge in coconut oil exports last year was attributed to an increase in local production and recovery in demand in that period.

In 2009, coconut oil exports declined to 826,237 MT from 847,626 MT the preceding year and fell short of the projected 835,000 MT due to slumped global demand amid the financial crisis.

The Philippines, the world’s biggest exporter of coconut oil, ships out about 80% of its production. Major markets for the country’s coconut oil are China, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands and the United States. -- K. A. Martin- Business World , Manila Philippines.