Philippine Export of Coconut Products Down June

UCAP estimates showed Philippine exports of coconut products in June fell appreciably to 132,693 MT in copra terms from 219,857 MT in June last year, a 39.6% shortfall.  The total, however, is higher by 8.6% when compared with May shipment estimated at 122,160 MT, and way below the monthly average in the last five months (January-May) at 189,385 MT by 29.9%.  
A vastly reduced coconut oil export dragged aggregate data during the month. Shipment of coconut oil slumped 46.6% year-on-year to 66,139 MT from 123,952 MT. The five-month period average was 102,808 MT, which placed current month’s level 35.7% short of the average.  
  The traditional importers Europe and the USA together made up 86.8% of the market with remainder going to Asian countries.  Europe, however, was the bigger outlet responsible for 64.9% or 42,950 MT, while the USA accounted for 21.9% or 14,500 MT.  The remaining 13.1% was shared by Japan at 3,189 MT (4.8%), Malaysia at 3,000 MT (4.5%), and South Korea at 2,500 MT (3.8%). 
Copra meal exports at 26,100 MT was more than twice last year at 12,193 MT (+114.1%).  The figure is a shade above the monthly average at 26,057 MT (+0.2%).  Bulk of the month’s shipment went to China at 12,650 MT (48.5%) with Vietnam and South Korea sharing the remainder, respectively at 7,150 MT (27.4%), and 6,300 MT (24.1%).
Overseas purchases of desiccated coconut increased substantially in June at 14,801 MT from 11,712 MT (+28.4%), and exceeded the monthly average at 14,203 MT  by 4.2%. By contrast, oleochemicals slightly reduced shipment by 3.5% to 4,827 MT as copra from 5,000 MT but fared well with the monthly average at 4,238 MT by 13.9%. 
The cumulative export figure for the first half of this year, estimated at 1,092,153 MT in copra terms, showed a cutback by 21.5% from 1,391,163 MT at the same time last year. The total comprised of January-March official data from the Philippine Statistics Authority and UCAP estimates for April-June. All products but desiccated coconut showed lower sales than last year as shown following, MT: coconut oil 592,562 (774,612 last year), copra meal 156,921 (166,590), desiccated coconut 82,930 (81,727), oleochemicals as copra  23,363 (35,264).