CNO exports up 18%

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine coconut oil exports rose 18 percent in August because of increased demand in traditional markets, the United Coconut Association of the Philippines (UCAP) said yesterday.

UCAP executive director Yvonne Agustin said CNO exports in August reached 49, 105 metric tons (MT) , up from 41, 523  MT in the same period last year.

“There has been an uptick in demand in traditional markets,” she said.

Most of the country’s coconut oil exports are shipped to the United States and Europe.

Agustin noted, however, that the exportation volume for the month is the lowest for this year because of delays in copra delivery.

This, however, helped push up prices of the commodity during the month.

Prevailing world market prices of coconut oil range from $970 per MT to $980 per MT. This is higher than the price of its main competitor palm oil which is placed at  $817.50 per MT.

Palm kernel oil, which is used for cooking, fetches a price of $895 per MT.

In July, CNO fetched a price of $870 to $875 per MT as compared to its main competitor,  palm kernel oil which was priced at $845 per MT.

Agustin said CNO exports for the year is still expected to reach more than 900,000 MT.

She noted that the year-to-date shipment volume has reached 818, 237 MT up by  533, 651 because of increased stock requirements from traditional markets.