Sri Lanka coconut prices slide despite global shortage
Sri Lanka’s average coconut prices have slid at the weekly auction, Coconut Development Authority Data (CDA) showed, despite the global coconut shortage.
The average price slid to 160,464.02 rupees for 1,000 nuts, down 6.78 percent from 172,144.61 rupees a week earlier.
The highest price for a coconut at the auction was 172 rupees while the lowest was 150 rupees.
Coconuts offered at the weekly auction steeply rose to 413,620 from 268,411 a week earlier, hitting the highest volume offered at an auction this year.
348,864 coconuts were sold at the auction, the highest so far in the year, ahead of the Buddhist Vesak festival.
A feature of this holiday in Sri Lanka is the free food and drink distribution through dansal which could mean a higher coconut consumption.
Wholesale prices for large nuts were 200-210 rupees and small nuts were 170-180 rupees on May 9.
Farmgate price in Kurunegala was 155-160 rupees a nut.
Coconut oil local wholesale price was 960,000 to 980,000.00 rupees per metric ton.
Copra was 137,500 to 145,000 rupees per 250 kg.
In Asia, coconut production fell 0.3 percent in the Philippines in the first quarter of the year, according to The Manila Times.
Malaysia’s coconut shortage has stabilised palm kernel prices as palm oil inventories are expected to increase 15 percent or 2.15 million tonnes month-on-month in May, the New Strait Times said.
Farmers in Indonesia have urged the government to refuse any export control as the government mulls an export curb to combat the coconut shortage.
However, farmers see the rise in global prices as a “long-overdue opportunity for farmers who have faced decades of low margins,” Indonesia’s The Jakarta Post said.
The surge in global prices translates to the shift in global demand from animal-based products to plant-based product consumption, researchers told The Jakarta Post.
Shortage in production has led to the hike in prices. The El Niño phenomenon and structural issues in the industry have significantly contributed to the production shortfall.
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