United Coconut Associations of the Philippines (UCAP) is pleased to welcome the newest Associate Members of the Association, the UCPB-CIIF Finance and Development Corp. and Venexmaritime Services Corp.

       UCPB-CIIF FINANCE AND DEVELOPMENT CORP., also known as Cocofinance, was created by UCPB to do development lending in view of the regulations that tend to limit the ability of commercial banks to undertake purely development lending activities. It has granted loans to families of coconut farmers in the country. It has a number of different credit facilities addressing the various financial needs of coconut communities. Apart from credit facilities, it also provides trainings on capability building and values formation for officers and members of coconut farmers? cooperatives. Cocofinance is represented by Mr. Edgardo C. Amistad, President. The company holds office at Unit 1003/1004, 139 Corporate Center, 139 Valero St., Salcedo Village, Makati City 1227

       Data from the Philippine Coconut Authority show six non-traditional coconut products generated export revenue of more than USD100,000 during the month, thus qualified in the top non-traditional coconut export products category.

       Leading the pack was?GLYCERIN with foreign exchange receipts of USD1.297 million from shipment of 1,746 MT. The volume rocketed by 89.6% from 921 MT a year ago. Japan was market leader with 732 MT (41.9% market share); followed by China with 593 MT (34.0%) and Pakistan with 200 MT (11.4%). Limited tonnages went to New Zealand 60 MT (3.4%), Korea 52 MT (3.0%), Malaysia 49 MT (2.8%), Russia 40 MT (2.3%) and India 20 MT (1.1%).

       NATA DE COCO was the second biggest export with income of USD623,082 from sale of 640 MT. Shipment during the month rose by 7.4% from similar month year-ago at 596 MT. Japan remained the biggest buyer at 506 MT comprising 79.1% of total sales. Other considered notable buyers like Singapore with 33 MT, United Arab Emirates 30 MT, Korea 19 MT, United States 18 MT, Bahrain 6 MT, Italy and Hongkong at 5 MT apiece, taken together shared 18.1%. Nine other countries jointly held 17 MT or 2.7%.

       VIRGIN COCONUT OIL came in third with revenue of USD436,419. Volume which stood at 121 MT was a sharp drop by 24.6% from 161 MT in same period year-ago. Canada captured the biggest portion of the load at 53 MT, trailed by United States at 47 MT, and Belgium at 12 MT, with respective market share of 43.7%, 38.7% and 9.7%. Smaller volumes went to Australia at 6 MT, Finland at 2 MT, Sweden at 1 MT and seven other countries with combined tonnage of 1 MT.

       ??COCONUT MILK POWDER took the fourth spot with income of USD353,623 from export of 107 MT. The volume was more than 17-fold of the prior year data at 6 MT. There were three country recipients of the product led by Malaysia which took in 56 MT representing 52.2% of total traded volume. The next two outlets were France at 38 MT and Japan at 13 MT, with respective share of 35.3% and 12.2%.

       LIQUID COCONUT MILK landed fifth with turnover of USD241,966 from delivery of 142 MT, significantly higher by 77.6% from prior year at 80 MT. Brazil was leading buyer capturing 50 MT or 35.2% of the total business. Limited volume went to the Netherlands and Belgium at 19 MT apiece, United States at 17 MT, Japan at 15 MT and Italy 14 MT; while four other countries together absorbed the remaining volume of 7 MT.

       Reports from India say branded oil manufacturers in the country are taking advantage of the present low prices of copra and coconut oil by increasing their purchases from large coconut producing states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Companies such as Marico and Shalimar are increasing their procurement of copra to take advantage of the situation. Marico, which buys around 1 lakh tons (100,000 MT) a year, is expecting a 6% increase in volume while Shalimar is also increasing its purchases this year to around 24,000 MT from about 15,000 MT last year. The company is buying more copra from Kozhikode, Kangayam and Pollachi. Other local players like KLF are also buying heavily from the market. Large import of palm oil has also caused the coconut oil price to remain low. Additionally, Coconut Development Board sources say, coconut production has increased by 30% which has led to sluggish price of coconut oil.

       Indonesia?s crude palm oil (CPO) export revenue decreased by a hefty 54.0% for the first quarter of this year or by USD1.07 billion compared to the same period last year. Elfian Effendi, executive director of Greenomics Indonesia said that substantial drop in the country?s income from CPO exports was mainly due to the price slump up to 48.2%. In terms of volume, however, the CPO overseas sales only declined 11.2% in the period.

       Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (KMP) earlier announced that Plantation Pipe Line Company is the first pipeline company in the United States to transport biodiesel for commercial purposes. Plantation completed its first transmarket commercial shipment of 15,000-barrel batch of blended 5% biodiesel (B5) on a mainline segment of the pipeline from Collins, Mississippi to Athens, Georgia, and Roanoke, Virginia. Upon receipt of the product at both facilities, Kinder Morgan performed testing on samples from the batch and found that the samples arrived on specification. In addition to Athens and Roanoke, the company said it will be able to move blended B5 to other markets along Plantation in Birmingham and Oxford, Alabama., Bremen and Atlanta, Georgia, Belton and Spartanburg, South Carolina, and Charlotte and Greensboro, North Carolina.

       According to findings published in the journal Food Chemistry, the olive extract obtained from the waste waters of olive oil pomace performed better than a commercial antioxidant sourced from wine. Sharon DeJong from Food Science Australia and Maria Cecilia Lanari from Argentina?s National Council for Scientific and Technical Investigation (CONICET) wrote ?The polyphenol extract from the waste water of olive oil?s pomace significantly inhibited lipid oxidation in pre-cooked ground beef and pork. The antioxidant effect increased with the dose and was higher in beef than in pork.?