'Coconut plantations sell at Rs. 20 while traders market it at Rs. 50'

To ensure pure coconut oil for the consumers, the Coconut Growers Association of Sri Lanka (CGA) is urging the Government to impose regulations on coconut oil in bottled form with mandatory labelling.

Lionel Fonseka, newly elected President, CGA at its 22nd AGM held at the Sri Lanka Foundation last week, while presenting the annual report of the CGA made this request to Navin Dissanayake, Minister of Plantation Industries - Chief Guest at the event, to have mandatory labels for pure coconut oil.

Mr. Fonseka said that almost all the bulk coconut oil sold in retail shops are adulterated which affects the coconut industry seriously. He said this oil is suspected to be adulterated with palm oil but if pure coconut oil is bottled according to regulations and mandatory labelling, this practice will stop.

He indicated that the producer price of a coconut has come down to Rs 20 – the lowest price in the last five years. According to information gathered by the industry on pricing trends, Mr. Fonseka said it was found that the industry is experiencing bumper coconut harvests and at the same time there was a drop in demand for fresh nuts from the coconut kernel processing industry.

It was also found that large quantities of palm oil are imported to the country and as a result the coconut industry is collapsing. The coconut oil industry is losing its competitive edge in the international market, he said adding that although the farm gate price remained at Rs. 20 per nut the selling price in the market has risen to Rs 50.

He said that they were thankful to the government since after a meeting with the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe action was taken to increase the import duty on palm oil, the ban on export of fresh nuts was lifted and the financial burdens of the exporters were removed.

Minister Dissanayake said that though the industry people lament that the coconut industry is collapsing, he did not see such a situation. He said that the proposal to import coconut in the budget has happened without his knowledge and as he saw that it is detrimental to the industry, he stopped the move.

But he noted that in the case of importing tea, the issues are different as Sri Lanka too has to export different kinds of tea to other markets. Therefore, tea would be imported, blended with Sri Lanka tea and re-exported.