Coco exports up 9.4% to $232M in first quarter

Improved prices in the world market boosted the country’s coconut exports in the first quarter as dollar receipts from one of the country’s top agricultural exports reached $232.08 million.

Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) administrator Danilo M. Coronacion said the figure was 9.4 percent higher than $212.067 million posted during the same period in 2003.

Data provided by the PCA Coconut Media Service show that the figures covered actual figures for the months of January and February and preliminary estimates for March and April.

In terms of volume, coconut exports grew by only 0.25 percent to 566,316 metric tons (MT) in the four-month period from 564,918 MT a year ago.

Coconut Oil (CNO) recorded the highest earnings, rising by 21.9 percent in the first quarter as volume picked up by 4.9 percent and prices improved 16.2 percent.

From $134.042 million in the first quarter of 2003, CNO exports went up to $163.381 million in the first three months of 2004. Volume increased from 315,804 MT to 301,016 MT while prices increased to $517.35 MT from $445.30 per MT in 2003.

Earlier, Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. said world demand for CNO is growing dramatically as the product is increasingly gaining acceptance as a natural healing oil.

CNO is now also used as a raw material for the production of a wide range of beauty care, pharmaceutical, and industrial products.

Copra meal exports improved 13.5 percent, with a 2.5-percent increase in volume and 10.7-percent uptick in prices. Shipments of copra meal increased to $11.646 million in the four-month period from only $10.263 million a year earlier. Volume grew to 142,109 MT from 138,603 MT while prices improved to $81.95 per MT from $74.05 per MT.

However, exports of desiccated coconut fell 31 percent because of a 20-percent slowdown in volume and a 13.8-percent downturn in prices. The total value of desiccated coconut shipments fell to $21.065 million from $30.527 million as volume dropped to 25,335 MT from 31,664 MT. Prices eased to $831.45 per MT from $964.11 per MT.

The other top coconut exports during the four-month period were activated carbon, which grossed $10.826 million; coco chemicals, $11.7 million; and coco shell charcoal, $829,000.

Other coco-based export items reached $12.7 million. Coconut exports accounted for 36 percent of aggregate agricultural shipments in 2003. Shipments totaled $640.559 million in 2003.