Volume of coco product exports surges 46%

The volume of exported coconut products surged 45.8 percent year-on-year in the first nine months of 2013 to some 1.6 million metric tons (MT) in copra terms as coconut oil shipments jumped by almost half.

Preliminary data from the United Coconut Associations of the Philippines (UCAP) show that most coco product categories continued to show two-digit increases in volume.

The volume of copra meal, one of the country’s top agricultural exports, went up by 66.5 percent to 652,890 MT in January to September.

Copra meal is the residue left after oil is squeezed out of copra and is used to make livestock and fishery feeds.

Top farm export coconut oil showed a 48.6-percent jump to 902,009 MT while oleochemicals leaped 20 percent to 22,153 MT in copra terms and desiccated coconut, by 27 percent to 91,722 MT.

In September alone, combined export volumes rose by 4.1 percent to 137,786 MT in copra terms.

UCAP said the September volume showed a healthier growth of 45.8 percent when compared to the previous month.

In September, exporters sent out 74,769 MT of crude oil expressed out of copra, improving year-on-year by just about 2 percent.

Similarly, shipments of desiccated coconut rose by 27.8 percent to 10,740 MT.

However, the volume of copra meal plunged 34.3 percent to 59,920 MT and that of oleochemicals by 6.9 percent to 2,384 MT.

Coconut oil, copra oil cake and desiccated coconut are among the country’s top agricultural export earners.

Data from the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) show that in the first semester, coconut oil was the top earner with $538.3 million.

The BAS said, however, that coconut oil posted the least growth at just 0.3 percent during the period.