The Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) has announced it has met with coconut industry stakeholders to control the surging prices of copra, stabilize cooking oil prices and prevent “widespread food inflation affecting every Filipino household.”
In a statement on Tuesday, April 8, the PCA said the April 5 meeting with industry stakeholders from coconut oil milling, refining, desiccating, and the oleochemical sectors, discussed the steps to be taken to stop the surge in the prices of domestic copra, cooking oil and other coconut products.
he agency said the stakeholders’ discussions took off from a briefer highlighting the critical upward trajectory of copra prices since July 2024, directly impacting the cost of cooking oil and other coconut-based commodities.
PCA said the national average farmgate price of copra reached P58.10 per kg as of March 31, 2025.
This was a 109.8 percent or P30.41-jump from the P27.69 per kg in the same period in 2024.
“The Philippine coconut industry is at a critical juncture… If not addressed urgently, the rising costs of copra and coconut oil could strain the operations of processors and ripple into widespread food inflation affecting every Filipino household,” the agency warned.
The PCA said copra price hikes have caused the retail prices of refined, bleached and deodorized coconut oil, commonly used as cooking oil, to fluctuate between P172 and P182 per kg at the millgate level.
The PCA said major domestic suppliers have reported a company price of P168.83 per liter, with a suggested retail price of P173.90 per liter.
“We cannot afford complacency. The PCA will act with decisiveness, armed with data-driven policies and strengthened partnerships with the private sector and government agencies. The coconut industry is too vital to the Philippine economy to be left at the mercy of volatile market forces,” said PCA Administrator Dexter Buted.
The PCA said the stakeholders have agreed to intensify monitoring to stop or prevent the illegal exportation of mature coconuts in observance of an existing ban.
The PCA ban on the export of mature coconuts is meant to preserve the country’s genetic resources and competitive edge in the exports of coconuts, as matured coconuts can be used as planting materials.
The agency said stakeholders have also called for the re-evaluation of the biofuel blend increase, urging the government to temporarily suspend the scheduled 1 percent increase in the coco-methyl ester biodiesel mandate, set for October 2025.
“They (stakeholders) advocated for an immediate dialogue with the National Biofuels Board to assess the impact of the increased blend on domestic coconut oil supply and pricing, suggesting a potential temporary adjustment to prioritize cooking oil availability for consumers,” PCA said.
The agency added that the Department of Labor and Employment’s Strategic Utilization of the Social Amelioration and Welfare Program should also be tapped to identify specific programs that could be swiftly implemented to support coconut farmers and expedite measures to increase coconut yields.
The Department of Agriculture’s monitoring of public markets as of Tuesday, April 8, showed that the prevailing prices of the 350-ml coconut oil ranged from P30 to P65, and a liter of coconut oil, ranged from P80 to P180.
Based on latest data available from the Philippine Statistics Authority, the country produced a total of 14,500,416.25 metric tons (MT) of husked coconuts in 2024, a 2.6 percent decrease from 2023’s 14,892,628.40 MT.
Last year, the Private Sector Advisory Council-Agriculture Sector Group pushed efforts for the Philippines to regain its status as the number one exporter of coconuts in the world market by programming the planting of 100 million additional coconut trees by the end of the Marcos administration.
The Philippines is currently the second biggest coconut-exporting country in the world next to Indonesia.
