Phl cashes in on growing demand for coconuts

The rising global demand for coconut from various industries is priming producers to cash in on the emerging uses of coconut-based products, the United Coconut Association of the Philippines (UCAP) said.

“For the Philippines, the transition to value-addition paves the way for industry players to increasingly capture and squeeze the most economic gains with a multiplier effect in the economy from every coconut the tree makes,” said UCAP vice chairman Marco Reyes.

Apart from the commonly known coconut oil, other products such as coconut flour, coconut water, coconut milk, coconut vinegar, and coconut sugar are being considered superfoods due to their high electrolytes and low glycemic index.

“Industries in the health, wellness, and green sectors offer the biggest opportunities for all coconut products — in terms of growth and better prices — not only in the Philippines but from other coconut producing countries as well,” he said.

He said coco products coming from the Philippines have a comparative advantage than those from other coco-producing states.

“Thailand is the leader for coconut milk, but coconut milk from the Philippines from UHT (ultra-high temperature) process is getting headway,” Reyes said.

“Indonesia competes with the Philippines for coconut sugar, but the quality of Philippine coconut sugar is at premium even if it is more expensive,” he added.

UCAP is urging the industry to focus on creating valueadded markets to get much higher value domestically and internationally.

Coconut remains to be one of the top agricultural exports in the country, earning as much as $900 million annually for the past five years.

The Philippines is one of the top producers of high quality coconuts and is the second biggest exporter of coconut-based products globally.

Data show that there are 3.6 million hectares of land planted with about 338.7 million fruit-bearing coconut trees nationwide, accounting for 26 percent of the total agricultural land in the country.

Of the 81 provinces, 68 are considered as coconut producing areas.

In terms of yield, the Philippines produces 4,000 nuts per hectare annually, significantly much lower than India which produces about 10,000 nuts per hectare yearly.