‘Buko’ vendors see brisk business ahead

LUCENA CITY, Philippines—Fresh coconut vendors here predict brisk business in the coming days due to renewed media interest in the health benefits of coconut water or “buko” juice.

“We hope the news would bring us more customers,” Roberto Belen, 63, a vendor of young coconuts and buko juice, told the Inquirer in an interview Saturday morning.

Belen and his wife have been tending a coconut stall at the corner of Cabana and Merchan Streets here for the past 20 years. It is the favorite pit stop of early morning joggers and health buffs.

“Buko juice after a morning exercise is best for the body,” said jogger Rod Ravina, 43.

He sips the coco water from a newly opened nut with a plastic straw after which he gets to bring home the scraped tender coconut meat.

Regular buko juice drinkers attest to its health benefits.

“Buko juice is a natural and safe diuretic. Urinating is easy and refreshing if one is a regular drinker,” says Alfredo Manalo, 39, an employee, who regularly consumes three glasses of fresh buko juice from his favorite vendor.

After his US trip, President Benigno Aquino announced that two US companies planned to make fresh investments in the country’s coconut industry to meet the international demand for coco water.

Coconut water is a hundred-million-dollar industry in the United States where it is being promoted as an alternative natural sports drink because it has the essential electrolytes and minerals needed for rehydration.

Coconut vendors, however, are not very enthusiastic about the reported interest of US investors to feed the new craze for buko juice.

“Several years ago, some businessmen once asked us if we could deliver a minimum of one million coconuts per order. At first, the prospect was tempting but we soon realized that gathering one million coconuts would not be that easy,” Belen recalls.

He fears the renewed interest of foreign businessmen in coconuts will lead to a shortage in the local market.

“All of our coconuts will be shipped to the US and other countries. Where will we get coconuts for our local needs, for our salads during fiesta and special occasions?” he says.

Belen says they now buy their coconuts  mostly from farms in far away coastal areas, as their previous sources have been converted into subdivisions while the other areas are now barren because of the rampant coco lumber trade.

He says they sell an average of 100 coconuts a day, mostly to early morning joggers,  but during the holiday season they can sell more than 500 young coconuts a day.

Fresh young coconuts sell for P20; grated coconut meat for buko salad–P120 per kilo; a glass of ice cold buko juice—P5; and a pitcher-full of fresh coco water-P15.