Coconut Business in the Philippines

Coconut business in the Philippines is one of the economy contributors to the country as Philippines is one of the world’s largest coconut producers. The many uses of coconuts and the huge global demand make it a good business to be involved in.

What are the benefits of coconuts business? What are the resources available when it comes to the coconut business in the Philippines?

Coconut Business in General

It would be surprising if someone told you he/she doesn’t know what is a coconut, as coconut palms are grown in more than 80 countries of the world.

The coconut palm thrives on sandy soils and is highly tolerant of salinity. It prefers areas with abundant sunlight and regular rainfall (150 cm to 250 cm annually), which makes colonizing shorelines of the tropics relatively straightforward. With many islands surrounded by beautiful beaches and sandy shorelines, this makes Philippines one of the ideal place on Earth to cultivate coconuts.

The coconut palm yields more than 50 fruits per year. Nearly all parts of the palm are useful, which includes the flower,the husk,the shell,the leaves, the Copra,the trunk and even the roots. With such a productivity and vast usage, it is no doubt that coconut has quite a significant economic value. (In the Malay language, the coconut is known as pokok seribu guna, “the tree of a thousand uses”)

Commercial wise, businesses could be trading desiccated coconut, coconut oil, coconut milk, coconut cream, coconut water, and coconut juice etc around the world.

With Philippine Coconut Authority, coconut business in the Philippines are well taken care of and there
has been initiatives in industrial uses of the coconut oil such as being used as engine feedstock, as engine lubricant,as transformer oil or as herbicide. We will cover more in the next section.

Even if you never heard of the many commercial or industrial uses of the coconuts, there is one thing for sure that when you visiting tropical countries, a coconut water or coconut juice is something you will be enjoying under the beautiful sunset at the beach.

Coconut Business in the Philippines

When it comes to the coconut business in the Philippines, the Philippine Coconut Authority plays an important role.

The Philippine Coconut Authority was created pursuant to Presidential Decree 232 on June 30, 1973. It absorbed and assumed the powers and functions of the then Coconut Coordinating Council (CCC), the Philippine Coconut Administration (PHILCOA) and the Philippine Coconut Research Institute (PHILCORIN).

Today, PCA is an agency of the Philippine government under the Department of Agriculture responsible for developing the coconut and other palm oil industry to its full potential in line with the new vision of a united, globally competitive and efficient industry.

Some of the facts and continuity activities on the coconut business in the Philippines can range from 1920s to the current years, which includes:

1. The supply of desiccated coconut since 1922
Franklin Baker began processing coconut in the Philippines in 1922 by setting up a plant in Sta. Mesa, Manila. This gave birth to the Franklin Baker Company of the Philippines (the original intention was to process coconuts in the Philippines to supply their New Jersey plant with desiccated coconut instead of importing whole nuts from the Caribbean countries).
http://www.franklinbaker.com/about-us/history.html

2. First Mindanao Coconut Summit (2009)
To explore the various possibilities of increasing the incomes of coconut farmers using a number of approaches, the First Mindanao Coconut Summit opened in Mati City, Davao Oriental, under the auspices of the Davao Region Coconut Industry Cluster and the Mindanao Business Council, in cooperation with the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), the Department of Trade and Industry, and the Department of Science and Technology.

3. Philippines planning to create ‘iconic’ wine from coconut
The Philippine Coconut Authority has signed a memorandum of agreement with local wine maker Marius Diaz to start discovering a technology which could turn coconut wine into a cultural product that the Philippines could export.
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/101568/Philippines-planning-to-create-iconic-wine-from-coconut

As you can see from above, from the history to the supporting from the government (http://www.pca.da.gov.ph), to the planning of the future for coconut (the coconut wine and biodiesel effort), there are quite some opportunities for the coconut business in the Philippines.

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