The Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) is encouraging coconut farmers to work together and engage in group marketing so they could negotiate for a higher price for their copra.
The PCA made the statement after the price of copra dropped following the decline in the international price of palm oil. The agency noted that the price of palm oil in the world market has been going down since December 2017.
“At present, the world market price is $623.50 per metric ton [MT]. This commands the price of coconut oil and other vegetable oils in the world market. If we convert this price to Philippine peso/kilogram [kg] using the current peso-dollar exchange rate of P52, this is only P32.42/kg,” the PCA said.
“This explains the very low price of copra as companies using vegetable oils will buy more palm oil if the supply is high and the price is low. But as the supply of palm oil will go down, prices of vegetable oils will again go up,” it added.
The agency noted that the fluctuation of domestic copra price is cyclical and is beyond its control. The PCA also noted that domestic copra price is dependent on coconut oil price in the global market.
“The global coconut oil price is determined or affected by the supply and demand situation of other vegetable oils [e.g. oil palm, soybean, rapeseed, sunflower, olive oil, etc.] Though the Philippines is the biggest exporter of coconut oil in the world, coconut oil is just one of the many vegetable oils produced in the world,” the agency said.
“As such, its price is greatly affected by the movement of prices of other vegetable oils particularly the palm oil which is the biggest among the internationally traded vegetable oils [35 percent], and soybean oil, the second biggest vegetable oil [29 percent],” it added.
The PCA, however, assured that it is undertaking measures to help farmers cope with the decline in the price of copra. The agency noted that it has exerted efforts to increase coconut production through fertilization.
“[The agency] has an intercropping and animal dispersal program to provide farmers some alternative sources of income. The agency is also encouraging and teaching the coconut farmers to move toward value addition of coconut instead of relying on copra production,” the PCA said.
Since 2013 the PCA said it has been implementing the Kaanib Enterprise Development Project and Community/Household Level Coconut Processing Project where coconut farm households through the Small Coconut Farmers Organization are trained and provided with processing equipment for value-adding of coconut.
The agency also encouraged coconut farmers to coordinate with the PCA Coconut Development Officer in their municipalities for further information of PCA and other government programs and projects in their areas.
The PCA said it is also calling for a meeting with the big coconut processors so they can find ways to address the impacts of the copra price situation.