Philippine Export of Coconut Products Up Sharply in February

Official data from the Philippine Statistics Authority show Philippine export of coconut products leaped 34.2% in February to 90,109 MT in copra terms from 67,166 MT in a similar month year-ago.  Revenue, however, rose only slightly by 2.5% to USD102.978 million from USD100.423 million on low prices.

Export volume posted marked increases over previous year across major products.  Coconut oil hiked 23.8% to 44,265 MT from 35,744 MT year-ago, copra meal leaped 28.6% to 36,457 MT from 28,348 MT, desiccated coconut spiked 71.0% to 10,688 MT from 6,251 MT, and oleochemicals shot up 333.5% to 3,322 MT as copra from 766 MT.

Other products performed as follows, in MT: coco shell charcoal 6,134 (+34.6% from 4,556 last year), activated carbon 7,425 (+57.9% from 4,702), virgin coconut oil 1,660 (+30.7% from 1,271), coco water 5.780 million liters (-5.7% from 6.127 million), fresh coconuts 425,356 nuts (+768.1% from 49,000), Others 11,171 (+69.5% from 6,592).

Total export for the period January-February reached 229,569 MT in copra terms, a modest rise by 7.0% from 214,466 MT at the same time last year.  Breakdown is as follows, in MT: coconut oil 120,822 (119,317 last year), copra meal 68,517 (67,752), desiccated coconut 20,600 (14,557), oleochemicals as copra 5,938 (2,567); coco shell charcoal 8,998 (8,915), activated carbon 13,641 (11,262), virgin coconut oil 3,126 (3,047), coco water 10.862 million liters (12.354 million), fresh coconuts 564,121 nuts (218,465), Others 22,133 (14,688).