Copra price in Eastern Visayas drops by more than 60%

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines—Coconut farmers in Eastern Visayas are grappling with a decline of more than 60 percent in the price of copra due to a sharp drop in demand in the international market, according to the Philippine Coconut Authority.

Edilberto Nierva, PCA manager for Eastern Visayas, said the price of copra fell from P62 per kilogram to as low as P22 per kilogram in the region. Prices have been falling in the last three weeks, he said.

Nierva said that he was optimistic, however, that  prices would pick up before the end of the year.

At least 80 percent of the region’s copra output is exported to the United States and Europe, which are in financial difficulties.

The rest of Eastern Visayas’ copra production is for the domestic market, said Nierva.

Eastern Visayas, the second-largest coconut-producing region in the country, produces from 375,000 metric tons to 545,000 metric tons of copra every year.

At least 1.2 million farmers in the region depend on the coconut industry.

One of the farmers hurt by the fall in copra prices was Arnel Cadinong of Barangay Fatima in Dulag town, Leyte.

Cadinong, 38, said a decline in prices would mean lower income for farmers like him.

When copra used to fetch high prices, he said, he earned at least P20,000 a month. But now, he said, he would be lucky to earn P5,000 a month to support his  wife and four children.