Monkey Labor Accusation Trims Sale of Thai Coconut Milk Maker

A Reuters report from Thailand says Thai coconut milk producer, Theppadungporn Coconut, suffered a sharp drop in sales after an animal rights groups accused the industry of using monkey labor, an executive said, adding it was auditing plantations to show animals were not used.

Several British retailers pulled Thai coconut products from their shelves earlier this month after a report by People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) alleged that coconuts in Thailand are picked by abused monkeys.  “We saw sales fall 20 to 30% (from last year) after the news,” said Aphisak Theppadungporn, managing director of Theppadungporn Coconut Co. Ltd, one of Thailand’s biggest producers and exporters which makes Chaokoh coconut milk.

PETA has rejected the Thai government’s claim that use of monkeys was almost “non-existent”. Its report said majority of Thai coconuts were harvested by monkeys caught from the wild.  Aphisak said evidence and documents were being prepared for customers in its main markets, and for PETA, to show monkeys were not involved in Theppadungporn Coconut products. It started auditing plantations in January and of the more than 100 checked by a third party so far, none were found to have used monkeys, Aphisak said.