Philippine Export of Coconut Products Up Sharply in December 2018

Official data from the Philippine Statistics Authority revealed Philippine export of coconut products leaped 43.6% in December to 171,779 MT in copra terms from 119,607 MT at the same time a year earlier.  Gross export receipts, however, dipped 9.9% to USD139.903 million from USD155.207 million mainly on low coconut oil price.
Export of coconut oil jumped 44.4% to 94,487 MT from 65,457 MT and desiccated coconut shot up 74.0% to 11,210 MT from 6,444 MT. On the other hand, shipment of copra meal dropped 29.4% to 22,807 MT from 32,324 MT and oleochemicals fell 22.2% to 4,468 MT as copra from 5,744 MT.  
Other products performed as follows, in MT: coco shell charcoal 3,644 (+3.4% from 3,524 year-ago), activated carbon 5,259 (+3.1% from 5,099), virgin coconut oil 1,428 (+14.5% from 1,247), coco water 5.081 million liters (-11.2% from 5.723 million), fresh coconuts 122,485 nuts (+58.6% from 77,231), Others 8,261 (+68.4% from 4,905). 
Total export for calendar year 2018 was 1,760,936 MT in copra terms, mildly rising by 4.0% from 1,692,760 MT in a similar period year-ago.  Corresponding revenue slumped 17.0% to USD1.882 billion from USD2.268 billion. Breakdown of export by volume is as follows, in MT: copra 92 (111 year-ago), coconut oil 951,353 (912,631), copra meal 400,759 (256,173), desiccated coconut127,889 (115,005), oleochemicals as copra 53,034 (66,222); Coco shell charcoal 75,517 (33,690), activated carbon 73,359 (70,352), virgin coconut oil 24,897 (26,860), coco water 76.208 million liters (85.545 million), fresh coconuts 1.446 million nuts (1.462 million), Others 115,761 (133,109).