Coconut exports have seen a dramatic increase over the past years as the trend on health and wellness products have generally strengthened due to the health crisis brought by the new coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.
The Department of Trade and Industry said data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed that coconut oil recorded the highest annual increase in November 2021 of 95 percent to $152 million out of the 10 major commodity groups in terms of export value.
The country accounts for 60 percent of US’ coconut oil imports and 73 percent of its crude coconut oil imports.
The rise in demand were due to changes in US trade policy, market trends, and dietary guidelines, the DTI said.
In 2019, the coconut sector contributed more than $1 billion in export revenues.
Coconut, particularly coconut oil, is one of the top agricultural export commodities in 2019 placing the Philippines as the number one exporter of coconut oil in the world.
The Philippines maintained its global leader position in the coconut product exports in 2020.
Philippine exports of coconut oil and desiccated coconut accounted for 52.48 percent and 35.91 percent of the global market, respectively.
“Over the years, coconut food exports landscape has transformed from traditional coconut oil into a higher value product such as virgin coconut oil, coconut water, coconut milk, coconut chips, coconut cream, among others,” said Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez.
Lopez said Reportlinker expects the revenue for packaged coconut water to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of over 26 percent for 2019-2025.
“This is driven by the growing preference for coconut water as healthy, natural, and convenient beverage,” he said.