Coconut oil exports fall

after Haiyan
The Philippines normally accounts for more than 40% of the world's exports of
coconut oil, according to the United Coconut Association of the Philippines

Agence France-Presse
Published 4:02 PM, Mar 11, 2014
Updated 4:08 PM, Mar 11, 2014

FALL. Typhoon Haiyan affects the Philippines' coconut oil exports. Photo by Jay Directo/AFP

MANILA, Philippines Philippine coconut oil exports fell 35% at the start of this
year, driving up global prices, after a super typhoon destroyed millions of trees,
an industry group said Tuesday.
In normal times the Philippines accounts for more than 40% of world exports in
the oil, which is used in daily items such as detergents, bath soap, and
margarine, according to the United Coconut Association of the Philippines.
Super Typhoon Haiyan, which killed or left missing about 8,000 people in
November last year, also destroyed or severely damaged about 10% of the
nation's coconut trees.
This led to coconut oil exports falling to 143,870 tons in January and February, a
drop of 35.2% for the same period last year, the association said, warning a quick
turnaround was impossible.
"It will take several years for the supply to normalise (even) if we replant what has
been lost during the typhoon," the association's executive director, Yvonne
Agustin, told the Agence France-Presse.
"We are of course projecting a reduction in volume this year, and that would lead
to increased prices in the world market."
Agustin said coconut oil prices were already "substantially higher" than before the
typhoon, with the commodity currently trading at $1,445 a ton.
While she could not give exact pre-typhoon prices, the Indonesia-based Asian
and Pacific Coconut Community reported on its website that coconut oil sold for
$810 a ton in June last year.