The much awaited sports event of the coconut industry, the UCAP Golf Open, now on its 11 year, is taking place tomorrow, Friday, November 20, 2009 at the SUMMIT POINT GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB in Lipa City, Batangas, south of Manila. Tee off starts at 6:30 AM after the ceremonial tee off. If plans do not miscarry, we will have 12 flights in tomorrow?s tournament. This year?s tournament is chaired by Nemy Pagtakhan of Stolt-Nielsen Philippines, Inc.

       Apart from the trophies to be won by the top golfers in each class and fun holes winners, each participant will take home loot bags from International Oil Factory, San Pablo Manufacturing Corporation, Limketkai Manufacturing, and Chemrez Technologies. Door prizes will be raffled off as in past events. As added feature, Ronnie Rodil of Transeaboard.Shipping Services Philippines, Inc. has invited an artist to entertain the golfers during the awarding program.

       There were 10 non-traditional coconut export products that qualified in the top exports list, that is, product with export revenue of at least USD100,000 during the month.?GLYCERIN took the lead with foreign exchange receipts of USD1.065 million from shipment of 856 MT. Volume, however, reduced same time last year total at 1,226 MT by 30.2%. India was market leader with 240 MT (28.0% market share); followed by Japan with 236 MT (27.6%), Russia with 117 MT (13.6%), China with 103 MT (12.0%) and Malaysia with 100 MT (11.7%). Limited tonnages went to Korea and Canada at 20 MT apiece, while 3 other countries together accounted for 20 MT (2.4%).

       VIRGIN COCONUT OIL landed in second place with export receipts of USD736,648 from 239 MT sales. This month?s volume rose by a sizable 73.9% from 137 MT in a similar period last year. ?Shipment went primarily to the U.S. at 125 MT (52.5%) with Canada quite far behind at 77 MT (32.3%) and Germany at 22 MT (9.1%). Four countries took 2 MT apiece, namely South Africa, United Kingdom, Lithuania and Finland while three countries took 1 MT apiece, namely Turkey, Vietnam and China. Five other countries combined held 2 MT.

       NATA DE COCO was a close third with income of USD622,997 from 601 MT delivery. Tonnage during the month was a hefty climb by 108.8% from a similar month year-ago at 282 MT. Japan remained the top outlet with 463 MT (77.1%). Smaller volumes went to UAE at 39 MT (6.5%), USA at 28 MT (4.6%), Dominican Republic 26 MT (4.3%), Qatar 12 MT (1.9%) and China at 11 MT (1.9%). Fourteen other countries with aggregate volume of 21 MT comprised 3.7%.

       COCONUT MILK POWDER came in fourth with revenue of USD588,228 from 233 MT export. Total load during the month was a whopping 556.0% jump from August year-ago at 36 MT. Malaysia was leading importer with uptake of 98 MT or 42.1% of total business, followed by France at 76 MT (32.7%). Smaller purchases were made by Netherlands 15 MT (6.6%), Japan 13 MT (5.4%), Korea and Australia at 12 MT apiece and USA 6 MT.

       LIQUID COCONUT MILK ranked number five which earned USD358,407 from export of 213 MT. The volume leaped by an appreciable 40.9% from similar period last year data at 151 MT. Brazil was market leader with 125 MT (58.6%) while smaller volumes were shipped to Japan and Netherlands at 31 MT apiece, Belgium 18 MT, USA 6 MT and Canada 2 MT.

       TOILET/BATH SOAP was the sixth top export with proceeds of USD331,736 from the sale of 239 MT. Purchases markedly grew by 151.2% from the previous year at 95 MT. Thailand was top outlet responsible for 132 MT or 55.3% of total delivery, tracked by Saudi Arabia at 58 MT (24.1%). Eighteen other countries with uptake of 14 MT or below, for a total of 50 MT comprised 20.6 % of sales during the month.

       COCO FLOUR occupied in the seventh place with revenue of USD233,215. Volume which stood at 117 MT was up by 8.5% from 108 MT in the same month year-earlier. Three biggest destinations were Korea at 49 MT (42.0%), Japan at 38 MT (32.6%) and United Kingdom at 25 MT (21.8%), while 3 other countries had combined contribution of 4 MT (3.7%).

       SHAMPOO which earned USD190,810 from the export of 42 MT (16 MT year-ago) filled the eighth place. Singapore was almost an exclusive buyer with purchases representing 65.1% or 27 MT. Eleven other countries led by Guam bought no bigger than 4 MT and their combined volume was 15 MT.

       ALKANOMIDE with turnover of USD182,584 occupied the ninth place after shipping 101 MT (24 MT). Major buyers were Syria at 32 MT (31.7%), Canada at 20 MT (19.8%), Taiwan and China at 16 MT (15.8%) apiece, and Qatar at 15 MT (14.9%). Singapore absorbed the remaining 2 MT.

       The Philippine Horticulture Research and Training Center of UP Los Ba?os showcased during the recent Agrilink trade show a new use for coco coir dust which could benefit a lot of farmers in the countryside, particularly tomato farmers. Coco coir dust, a waste product of coconut fiber extraction, has long been used as an ingredient for making potting media for ornamental plants and vegetable seedlings.

       Chemrez Technologies Inc., the country?s largest biodiesel producer posted a net income of P371.9 million in the first nine months of 2009, up by 3 percent from the P359.4 million for the same period last year. In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Chemrez said its consolidated sales for the first nine months of 2009 reached P3.6 billion, higher by 1 percent than the P3.55 billion recorded for the same period in 2008.

       Combined export of desiccated coconut from the Philippines and Sri Lanka, the world?s major producing countries, in January-August this year dropped by 3.5% to 105,687 MT from 109,521 MT in the same period year-ago, according to collated country data from the Philippine Coconut Authority and Sri Lanka?s Coconut Development Authority.? Sri Lankan shipments leaped by 58.2% from 17,386 MT to 27,498 MT while Philippine export at 78,189 MT declined by 15.1% from 92,135 MT last year. In terms of market share, however, the Philippines was responsible for 74.0% and Sri Lanka 26%.

       An industry official said last week that Turkey will double its palm oil imports in the next 10 years to 1 million MT as domestic sunflower oil production struggles to keep pace with the growing population. The country buys annually 500,000 MT of refined palm olein from Malaysia for use of its booming confectionery and margarine industries as the vegetable oil is seen as cleaner than animal fats.

       Cargill announced early this month that Cargill Alking Bioengineering (Hubei) Co., Ltd., a joint venture between Cargill and Alking Bioengineering, is nearing completion of a new facility for the production of arachidonic acid-rich oil (ARA), a product used primarily in infant formula. The facility, which will begin the production in early 2010, is located near the current facility in Wuhan, China. ?The completion of this new facility will give Cargill the capacity to provide our global infant formula customers with ARA for years to come,? said Marcelo Montero, president, Cargill Health and Nutrition. Cargill and Cargill Alking Bioengineering have been serving China and select international infant formula markets with high quality arachidonic acid since 2004.