Coco exports declined by 54% in Q1

MANILA, Philippines—The volume of coconut-based exports in the first quarter fell by 54 percent year on year.

Preliminary data from the United Coconut Associations of the Philippines (Ucap) showed that, from January to March, the country shipped out a total of 174,210 metric tons in copra terms. In the comparative period of 2013, the volume exported reached 379,470 tons.

Ucap executive director Yvonne Agustin told reporters that the continuing decline in volume was due to the tight supply of copra and the damage Super Typhoon Yolanda wreaked on coconut farms.

In March alone, coconut oil exports plunged by 62 percent to 59,950 tons from 157,170 tons in the same month last year.

By Ucap’s reckoning, this was the sixth consecutive year-on-year decline in monthly volumes since October 2013.

Also, the Philippines may get to tap P33 million from the Japan-Asean Integration Fund-Emergency Economic Assistance to develop smallholder coconut-based industries in Northern Mindanao and Caraga, according to the Department of Agriculture.

The project will be implemented by the Philippine Coconut Authority, officials said.

Over the next two years, the government will establish two model facilities for coir processing, both with a capacity of 24,000 husks a day. These will be managed and operated by farmers’ cooperatives.