If we still want holidays among coconut trees, we must think more about coconut future.

#เอามะพร้าว(แห้ง) มาขาย(สวน)#

On my last (Internet) surfing, I had this odd wave [a UN Conference on Trade and Development: Coconut](http://www.unctad.info/en/Infocomm/AACP-Products/COMMODITY-PROFILE---Coconut2/). I looked at some tables and saw that back 4 years ago (2551) the 3 primary products from coconut were: copra, coconut oil and desiccated coconut (flake). Thailand was among the top 10 producers of copra with 1,380,980 tons (2.2% of world production) from 237,882 hectares; with the yield of 5.8 ton/ha. Indonesia produced 21,565,700 tons (34.9%);
Philippines   15,667,600 tons   (25.4%) and India 10,148,000 tons   (16.4%). --see table 1--.

Thailand exported 31,401 tons of copra for   12.081 Millions USD ($385/ton). In the same year Indonesia exported 85,452 tons of copra for $40.958M ($470/ton) and exported 649,362 tones of coconut oil for $769.134M ($1,185/ton) and 55,431 tons of desiccated coconut for $48.253M ($870/ton).--see table 3--

Table 2 shows the top coconut importing nations. China, Malaysia, USA, United Arab Emirates and Singapore were the top 5. It should be noted that Singapore imported copra and desiccated coconut and exported more desiccated coconut than imported).

##So, why is this an interesting wave?##
> Why don't Thailand produce coconut oil and desiccated coconut? --see Table 1--

* Is it because we do not have coconut oil presses?
* Is it because we do not have coconut dryers and shredders?
* It is hard to see why making coconut oil or desiccated coconut is a major problem. Can any one explain?

> Singapore seemed to profit from producing and exporting desiccated coconut by importing copra and desiccated coconut. --see tables 2 and 3--
In simple word. Singapore seemed to make money from packaging desiccated coconut.*

> Comparing the yield --see table 1-- between Thailand (5.8 tons/ha) and Vietnam (9.29 tons/ha), we can see that Thailand productivity can and should be increased. What are the differences in production mechanisms?
* Should we look at ways to improve yield and cost at the same time?*

*If we still want holidays among coconut trees, we must think more about coconut future.*  
 
<tables from coconut2008.htm>

Table 1: Top ten coconut producing countries in the world

        

Country

Production  (tons)

2009

%  of World Production

Acreage under Production (ha)

Yield/ha

(tons)

Indonesia

21565700

34.9

3231710

6.67

Philippines

15667600

25.4

3401500

4.61

India

10148000

16.4

1903000

5.33

Sri Lanka

2099000

3.4

394840

5.32

Brazil

1973370

3.2

284058

6.95

Thailand

1380980

2.2

237882

5.8

Vietnam

1128500

1.8

121500

9.29

Mexico

1004710

1.6

155713

6.45

Papua New Guinea

930000

1.5

216000

4.3

Malaysia

459640

0.7

166400

2.76

WORLD

61708358

 

11864344

5.2

Source: FAO Statistics 2008

        
         
         

Table 3: Imports of Coconut, Copra oil & Desiccated coconuts (top 5 countries in each category)

            

Country

Coconuts

(tons)

Value

($,000)

Coconut oil

(tons)

Value

($,000)

Desiccated Coconut

(tons)

Value

($,000)

China

101415

18919

146533

193657

    

Malaysia

44269

5754

147451

215276

    

USA

29785

16877

499148

642320

31009

53883

United Arab Emirates

19446

6135

    

18765

20546

Singapore

15722

6350

    

23500

27158

Netherlands

    

308475

349203

    

Germany

    

205421

274661

19950

31495

Belgium

        

16613

29754

WORLD

342139

 

2097597

 

272223

 

Source: FAO Statistics 2008

            
             
             

Table 4: Exports of Coconut, Copra oil & Desiccated coconuts (top 5 countries in each category)

            

Country

Coconuts

(tons)

Value

($,000)

Coconut oil

(tons)

Value

($,000)

Desiccated Coconut

(tons)

Value

($,000)

Vietnam

93501

17097

 

 

    

Indonesia

85452

40958

649362

769134

55431

48253

Sri Lanka

31814

12458

 

 

36263

64713

Thailand

31401

12081

      

 

Dominican Republic

24022

8301

      

 

Philippines

    

840449

905893

99233

148145

Netherlands

    

196584

268310

13288

22969

Malaysia

    

129553

173708

  

 

USA

    

14173

19030

    

Singapore

        

23770

31356

WORLD

360349

 

2009037

 

287969

 

Source: FAO Statistics 2008

            















Notes:

Copra is the dried meat, or kernel, of the coconut. Coconut oil extracted from it.

1 hectare (ha) = 10,000 sq.m = 6.25 rais

Coconut production is measured from reported copra of mature coconut trade. This is an underestimate measure.

Desiccated coconut is coconut meat which has been shredded or flaked and then dried (in 50-55C) to remove as much moisture as possible. (Typically, dry to 2-5% water.)

Coconut oil: 2 types
1) dry (copra) process  
2) wet (raw) process
World production 2010-11 6.24 Mt (2.5% of world veg oil)

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/nut-and-seed-products/3106/2 lists nutrition values for 80g (1 cup) of raw coconut meat with water content of 47%. Various sources say water content of 6% or less is acceptable for copra. Water content of 2-5% has been measured in desiccated coconut.

See [BPRE develops copra moisture meter](http://www.ilocostimes.com/jul02-jul22-07/feature_agrinews.htm)