Coco oil exports down 43%

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s coconut oil exports fell 43 percent in terms of volume in February compared to the previous year due to lower demand, the United Coconut Associations of the Philippines, Inc. (UCAP) said.

According to UCAP Executive Director Yvonne V. Agustin, preliminary estimates of the volume of coconut oil exports reached 38,838 metric tons (MT) in February, down from the 67,825 MT in the previous year.

For the January to February period, coconut oil exports volume dropped 57 percent to 73,145 MT from 170,899 MT in the same period last year.

Agustin attributed the decline in shipments to lower demand for coconut oil. “Demand for coconut oil was weak because companies still had stocks of coconut oil,” she said.

She said the supply of copra from which coconut oil is extracted, has so far improved compared to the previous year.

Despite the lower coconut oil exports volume as of end-February, she said that the UCAP is still sticking to its 925,000 MT full-year projection for the shipments this year.

“It is still too early to change the 925,000 MT projection. A lot of things can still happen this year,” she said.

Last year, the volume of coconut oil exports reached 823,381 MT, below the 900,000 MT projection of the UCAP.

The volume of coconut oil exports last year was likewise lower than the 1.343 million MT volume of shipments in 2010.

The UCAP said the decline in the volume of coconut shipments last year was due to lower copra supply with the dry spell in 2010 affecting coconut production and coconut trees experiencing stress from strong production for three consecutive years.