Coco exports up 10% to $391M in January-June

The country’s coconut exports grew 10.11 percent to $391 million in the first six months, bolstered by surging prices of copra and coconut oil in the world market.

Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) Administrator Danilo Coronacion said there was actually a drop in the volume of exports of coconut products but this was offset by substantially higher prices from January to June this year.

"It was the generally competitive prices that saved the day and up coconut exports," said Coronacion.

Total volume of exports went down by 13.47 percent to 861,771 metric tons (MT) from 995,923 MT during the same period in 2003. Coconut oil exports slipped 13.2 percent to 471,231 MT from 543,449 MT. Copra meal exports dived 12.69 percent to 191,495 MT from 219,324 MT, while dessicated coconut exports dropped 15.19 percent to 41,821 MT compared to the year-ago level of 49,313 MT.

A remarkable improvement in prices, however, made up for the lower volume shipped to major markets like the European Union and the United States.

The average price for coconut oil from January to June was $589 per MT, a hefty 36-percent increase from $433.57 per MT during the same period in 2003.

On the other hand, copra meal prices surged 26.4 percent to $90.49 per MT from $71.59 per MT.

Average prices of coco shell charcoal, improved 7.26 percent to $197.78 per MT from $184.39 per MT, and activated carbon by .76 percent to $951.85 from $944.7 per MT.

Export revenues from the sale of coconut oil went up 17.8 percent to $277.5 million while copra meal exports reached $17.328 million, 10.36 percent higher that the $15.7 million last year.

Coconut chemicals managed to earn $20.7 million from a reduced export volume, up 2.8 percent from $20.3 million in 2003. – Rocel Felix