For week ending July 09, 2009

       During the awarding ceremonies, door prizes courtesy of CIIF Oil Mills, Chemrez, and Prosource International were raffled off. The tournament was sponsored by: CIIF Oil Mills, Chemrez Technologies, Dumaguete Coconut Mills, Intertek Testing Services Phils., and United Coconut Planter Bank. Photos taken during the event can be viewed at the UCAP website at www.ucap.org.ph.

       Commissioner Aspe has been requested to give update on Revenue Memo Circular No. 44-2007 regarding the 1% withholding tax on income payments made to suppliers of agricultural products by the top 10,000 private corporations. As most of the firms in the industry belong to the top 10,000, this will be an opportunity to discuss with him the various issues relating to the Circular.

       January-April export at 289,726 MT in copra terms slashed a similar period year-ago total at 665,429 MT by a whopping 56.5%. Breakdown is as follows, in MT: coconut oil 137,474 (362,777 last year), copra meal 68,507 (186,633), desiccated coconut 41,320 (35,650), oleochemical as copra 7,629 (34,375); coco shell charcoal 10,368 (5,962), activated carbon 6,696 (8,162), glycerin 5,594 (6,123), fresh coconuts 569 (417), Others 9,940 (9,844).

       The US was leading buyer of cochin oil with 14,100 MT, trailed by Japan which solely imported this type of oil at 4,400 MT. Taiwan took in limited volume of 21 MT. Europe was the biggest destination for crude coconut oil with 8,910 MT mainly for Italy 7,410 MT and Spain 1,500 MT. The US held 3,136 MT, Taiwan 180 MT, and Singapore 34 MT. RBD coconut oil shipment went to 10 countries led by China with 501 MT, then Iran 298 MT, Israel 147 MT, Russia 107 MT, Bangladesh 74 MT, Pakistan 62 MT, Singapore 51 MT, Europe (Romania) 21 MT, India 20 MT and Egypt 17 MT.

       Korea remained the largest copra meal market responsible for 68.5% at 24,300 MT during the month of April. Vietnam likewise remained second with 6,020 MT (17.0%), followed by Taiwan 3,507 MT (9.9%). Other markets were Singapore 1,300 MT, China 249 MT, and Hongkong 98 MT which jointly shared 4.7%.

       There were 41 countries that imported desiccated coconut from the Philippines in April with the United States still the market leader accounting for 25.8% or 2,427 MT during the month. Second placer was United Kingdom with 1,571 MT (16.7%). The next three major buyers, namely Netherlands 892 MT, Belgium 863 MT, and France 653 MT, together accounted for market share of 25.6% or almost equal to that of the US. Other significant buyers, with uptake ranging 101-453 MT, jointly contributed 19.6%. This consisted of the following in descending order: Australia, Germany, Canada, Japan, Brazil, China, Dominican Republic, and Taiwan. Twenty-eight other countries with aggregate purchases of 1,171 MT and combined market share of 12.3% took in volume ranging 2-98 MT.

       Activated carbon export went to 14 countries led by the US at 187 MT (17.9%). Trailing behind were France 154 MT (14.7%), Japan 148 MT (14.1%), Germany 145 MT (13.9%), Australia 110 MT (10.5%). The remaining nine outlets had combined sales of 300 MT and market share of 28.8%. Country turnover was in the range 14-66 MT.

       Newly installed CIIF Oil Mills Group President & CEO Jesus L. Arranza revealed an exploratory talk recently with Chairman Ramon Villavicencio of local oil firm Flying V, on the latter?s interest in helping CIIF develop its own biodiesel product. ?It is trying to source more crude coconut oil from the CIIF to maintain production of biodiesel in Davao?, Arranza said, adding that Flying V can continue sourcing coconut oil from CIIF and in turn, CIIF can do some toll manufacturing arrangement with them. The talk followed Arranza?s earlier pronouncement that CIIF would engage Laguna-based Atson Coco, Inc. to manufacture on toll basis 50 MT of coconut methyl ester (CME) for CIIF biodiesel. Apart from biodiesel, Arranza is also eyeing to expand production line of the group from its current line up of cooking oil and related products to other higher value products.

       Import during the four-month period to April reached 245,057 MT. This is lower by 3.0% against a comparable year-ago period data of 252,718 MT. Coconut oil was 122,108 MT (180,553 MT) of which 61,726 MT or 50.5% came from the Philippines. Palm kernel oil was 122,949 (72,165 MT) with Malaysia supplying 77.4% at 95,156 MT.

       Export in April went to 35 countries. The top seven importers held volumes above 100 MT and collectively accounted for 68.4% of total trade. Leading the pack was Bangladesh with 375 MT (12.6% share), followed by UAR/Egypt with 365 MT (13.3%), U.A.E/Dubai with 346 MT (12.6%) and Saudi Arabia with 279 MT (10.2%). The next three countries had market shares between 4.5% and 9.4% namely, Pakistan 258 MT, Portugal 128 MT and Syria 123 MT. The remaining 28 countries which aggregately accounted for 31.6% of total sales took in volume ranging from a low of 1 MT to a high of 90 MT.

       Tanzania has removed a 10% import duty on crude palm oil originating from outside the East African Community (EAC) in response to pleas from the Confederation of Tanzanian Industries (CTI) that charging local manufacturers an import duty on crude palm oil created an unequal playing field as other EAC partner states bought crude palm oil at 0% import duty. This was contained in a budget speech read last month by Mustafa Mkulo, Finance Minister. Meanwhile, a CTI official said last month, ?We should adhere to the agreement reached in the EAC Customs Union protocol, in which raw materials are charged zero, intermediate goods 10% and finished goods 25%,? adding the duty was discouraging investment in the sector

        The new study reports that in addition to interfering with the production of arachidonic acid from linolenic acid, trans fats also reduce the amount of prostacyclin needed to keep blood flowing. Thus, blood clots may more easily develop, and sudden death is possible. Kummerow said, ?This is the first time that trans fatty acids have been shown to interfere with yet another part of the blood-flow process.?, adding that the study provides another piece of evidence to a long list that points to trans fats as significant contributors to heart disease.