For week ending February 11, 2010

       This year?s first UCAP Cocohouse luncheon is taking place next week, February 16, 2010, Tuesday, at the Summer Palace restaurant, EDSA Shangri-La Hotel, Mandaluyong City. The event also celebrates the Chinese New Year with a special New Year Prosperity Yee Sang or Yu Seung luncheon for a prosperous and bright Year of the Tiger ahead for the industry. This is the third straight year that Cocohouse is celebrating the Chinese New Year. Members who have not yet confirmed their attendance with the UCAP Secretariat still have a couple of days to do so.

       Year-to-date total at 1,301,315 MT in copra terms fell 12.8% from 1,492,295 MT at the same time year-ago. Breakdown by volume is a follows, in MT: copra 62 (nil year-ago), coconut oil 701,572 (769,207), copra meal 336,665 (413,444), desiccated coconut 108,767 (131,980), oleochemicals as copra 19,485 (67,282); coco shell charcoal 32,597 (19,834), activated carbon 18,024 (18,541), glycerin 19,200 (18,355), fresh coconuts 1,505 (1,372), Others 24,276 (24,440). Aggregate turnover stood at USD774.503 million, a dive by 44.0% from prior year at USD1.384 billion, mainly on low prices.

       The US was leading crude coconut oil importer at 20,615 MT; followed by Europe 8,000 MT, mainly Netherlands 5,000 MT, Spain 3,000 MT; then China 5,500 MT; Japan 1,000 MT; Taiwan 650 MT; and Iran 298 MT. Also, the US was market leader in cochin oil with uptake of 6,400 MT, tracked by Japan 3,015 MT, China 43 MT, and Pakistan 40 MT. The US likewise captured bulk of RBD oil shipment with 4,000 MT. Other importers were Japan 750 MT, China 345 MT, Iran 191 MT, Russia 109 MT, Korea 94 MT, Pakistan 74 MT, Australia 69 MT, Singapore 51 MT, Israel 39 MT, Bangladesh 37 MT, Hong Kong 18 MT, Brazil 15 MT and Netherlands (Europe) 4 MT.

       Export of copra meal in November at 48,708 MT largely went to Korea and Vietnam. The former took in 34,053 MT (69.9%) and the latter 10,190 MT (20.9%). Other importers absorbed the remainder namely Japan 3,870 MT (7.9%), Australia 520 MT (1.1%) and Taiwan 75 MT (0.2%).

       Meanwhile, 10 countries with imports ranging 110-398 MT together made up 28.7%, namely in descending order: Russia, Australia, Egypt, Netherlands, France, Korea, China, Taiwan, Israel, and Japan. The remaining 24 countries held smaller volume in the range 7-99 MT for a total of 771 MT. Their combined market share was 8.4%.

       Of total activated carbon export in November at 1,720 MT, more than one-fourth (28.5%) or 490 MT was destined for Japan. The US cornered 268 MT or 15.6%. Completing the top five importers were Indonesia 165 MT, South Africa 110 MT and Belgium 102 MT for respective market share of 9.6%, 6.4% and 5.9%. A dozen other countries with uptake ranging 13-88 MT together contributed over one-third (34..0%) or a total of 586 MT.

       The Philippines was the month?s largest source of lauric oil providing a total of 49,600 MT (40,000 MT) to the United States. This accounted for 58.5% of total lauric oil offtake. Malaysia followed with share of 29,400 MT (30,000 MT) or 34.7% of which 200 MT (4,200 MT) was coconut oil and 29,200 MT (25,800 MT) was palm kernel oil. Indonesia contributed 6.5% with 5,500 MT (7,900 MT) of coconut oil only. There was no reported import of palm kernel oil from the country during the month as against a delivery of 6,000 MT year-earlier. Purchases from other countries totaled 200 MT (300 MT) of which 100 MT (200 MT) was coconut oil and 100 MT (100 MT) was palm kernel oil.

       The average Briton consumes 20 per cent more than the government?s recommended amount of saturated fat. According to the FSA?s National Diet & Nutrition survey, the highest contributors of saturated fat to the UK diet are, in descending, order dairy products, including cheese, followed by meat and meat products, including meat pies, pastries and burgers, followed by fat spreads, including butter, then biscuits, buns, cakes and pastries, and finally chocolate confectionery.

       In tests conducted in a California pistachio orchard, Hua and colleagues found that spraying the trees with the yeast inhibited incidence of A. flavus in pistachios by up to 97 percent, compared to unsprayed trees. The yeast can also be sprayed on the harvested or stored crop instead of on trees before the harvest, according to Hua, based at the ARS Western Regional Research Center in Albany, Calif. Besides inhibiting the A. flavus fungus, the versatile yeast may also be effective in protecting other crops against any of at least half a dozen other species of microbes that can ruin a food?s taste, texture, yield, safety or other attributes. Those microbes include, for example Botrytis cinerea, which causes gray mold of table grapes.

       Previous studies on omega-3 fatty acids and bone health looked at older adults and young men. A new study led by Suzanne Eriksson of the University of Gothenburg, however, specifically involved 8-year old boys in an urban Swedish community. Results showed that children with higher long-chain omega-3 intakes had significantly better bone mineral density, a sign of strong and healthy bones. In addition, those boys with lower omega-3 intake and a higher omega-6 intake had the lowest bone density. The researchers also found that children who seldom or never drank milk had stronger bones than those who drank milk. A possible explanation is that most dairy cows are fed grains and, therefore, their milk is high in omega-6 fatty acids, the researchers said.