Also taking place next week, on August 24-30, 2007, will be the 21st National Coconut Week celebration, an annual event that serves to highlight the coconut industry’s importance and significant contribution to the national economy. For this year the Philippine Coconut Authority, which takes the lead in the celebration, has adopted the theme “COCONUT: It Nourishes…Energizes and Shelters”, which reflects a continuing quest to discover and promote new coconut products and the benefits they offer.

       Figures from the National Statistics Office show the Philippines imported 3,197 MT of vegetable oils in March this year. This is a massive drop by 83.9% from same period last year of 19,916 MT. Leading import was soybean oil at 1,465 MT; volume shrank by 67.0% from previous year at 4,433 MT and shared 45.8%.

       Malaysia remained the Philippines’ leading supplier of imported vegetable oils during the month with total at 1,166 MT or 37.9% of aggregate, based on data from the National Statistics Office. However, soybean oil was her top export at 1,141 MT with the remainder being palm oil at just 25 MT.

       Combined export of the world’s three major desiccated coconut producing countries during the first quarter of this year significantly increased by 18.9% to 55,133 MT from 46,372 MT in the same period year-ago, based on country data collated by the Asian and Pacific Coconut Community (APCC). The three countries comprised of the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

       Prices of desiccated coconut from Sri Lanka have risen in the last two weeks following rise in demand from the Middle East ahead of Ramadan festival which starts on September 12. Fine grade faq desiccated coconut was quoted at $1,350 per ton c&f Europe, higher by 2% from $1,325/MT two weeks before.

       Malaysia is to restart the country’s coconut cultivation program to meet growing demand for coconut products, particularly coconut oil. Malaysia’s agriculture and agro-based industry minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, said the ministry would embark on a project to process virgin coconut oil due to its health benefits and export potential.

       Figures from Oil World show the U.S. imported 61,500 MT of lauric oil in May this year. This is 15.4% higher than May last year total at 53,300 MT. The increment was largely credited to palm kernel oil which hiked 74.8% at 27,100 MT from 15,500 MT. It accounted for 44.1% of the total lauric import while coconut oil shared 55.9%. Import of coconut oil was reduced moderately by 9% to 34,400 MT from 37,800 MT.

       Malaysia was the month’s leading origin of lauric oil and was responsible for 28,500 MT representing 46.3% of aggregate. The volume was more than double the prior year figure at 11,900 MT. The bulk of delivery was palm kernel oil at 26,000 MT (9,300 MT last year) with coconut oil at only 2,500 MT (2,600 MT). The Philippines came in a close second with market share of 40% with 24,600 MT of coconut oil. The figure is lower by 30% from the prior year uptake of 35,100 MT. Shipment from Indonesia was 5,000 MT of which 4,000 MT (nil) was coconut oil and 1,000 MT (6,000 MT) was palm kernel oil.

       A leading epidemiologist from Harvard University, Dr. Walter Willett said that trans fatty acids (TFA’s) in food should be banned altogether rather than simply being limited or labeled on packaging. He told manufacturers and professionals during the IFT Food Expo 2007 in Chicago that Denmark had taken the right approach. In 2004, Denmark introduced legislation that mandated local and imported foods to contain less than 2% of industrially-made TFA’s, a move which effectively ended the use of partially hydrogenated edible oils in the country. “Human life is more important than shelf life,” said Dr. Willett.

       If the recent increase in export tax fails to reduce prices of edible oils, the Indonesian government may have to apply next month a domestic market obligation (DMO) policy on crude palm oil (CPO) producers to force them to allocate a percentage of their output for domestic consumption, the country’s industry minister said last week. The government increased in June the export tax on crude palm oil to 6.5% from 1.5% with a view to reduce exports of the product and increase local supplies after a sharp rise in domestic prices.