DA eyes 5 agro-ind’l coconut estates

MANILA, Philippines - The government is laying the groundwork for the establishment this year of five agro-industrial estates focusing on the production of high value products from coconut and processing of coconut commodities.

Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said the industrial estates should ideally be located near coconut plantations cultivated by small farmers. Each estate should have a capacity to process 5,000 nuts per day and should have cold storage facilities.

The output of the estates would be allocated both for domestic consumption and export.

Alcala said discussions are being conducted between the DA and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) to position the industrial estates as economic zones.

“These estates may also be offered under the PPP (Public-Private Partnership),” he said, noting that the department is already preparing a proposal for the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA).

The DA hopes to have file a proposal for the NEDA within the semester.

“There were already two groups of (foreign) investors who approached me,” Alcala said, adding, “this is the kind of economic activity that is needed in the countryside. From these activities, many related industries will rise.”

Aside from the five industrial estates eyed for this year, the DA is also preparing larger export-oriented agro-industrial estates with a minimum area of 150 hectares in a major coconut producing region. One large estate in three major islands in the country is envisioned to be established within the short term.

The creation of coconut industrial estates would provide for the value-adding of coconut commodities.

Most of the country’s coconut commodity exports continue to be used as raw materials for industrial and domestic products.

Philippine coconut exports include copra, coconut oil, copra meal, desiccated coconut, coco shell charcoal, activated carbon, and coco chemicals.

The creation of the industrial estates would be pursued as part of the Coconut Industry Development Roadmap.

Coconut commodities exports in 2012 rose year-on-year in terms of volume but fell year-on-year in terms of value because of weakened international prices, according to data from the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA).

Total export volume from January to December 2012 rose 1.49 percent to 1.53 million metric tons (MT) in 2012 from 1.51 million MT in the same period in 2011.

Export value for the period, on the other hand, fell 21.57 percent to $1.54 billion in 2012 from $1.96 billion in the same period in 2011. 

The volume of coconut oil shipments, which traditionally accounts for the majority of coconut product exports, rose 3.7 percent to 851, 913.18 MT in 2012 from 821.445.37 MT in 2011.

The value of coconut oil shipments for 2012, however, fell sharply 30. 25 percent to $982.32 million from $1.41 billion in 2011.

The average world market price of coconut oil in 2012 fell b32.75 percent to $1, 153.08 per MT from $1, 714.54 per MT in 2011.

The lower prices in the international market was attributed to lower demand for most vegetable oils in the greater part of the year. The world market price of coconut oil reached a low of $781 per MT.

Demand was low because of the weak economic activity in prime markets such as the United States, Netherlands and Germany.

Demand picked up four to five months before yearend when prices were already low.

Coconut oil price, however, is now slowly rising. It is currently at $800 per MT.