The value of the country’s coconut oil (CNO) exports fell by 39.2 percent to $383.046 million in January to April, from last year’s $630.048 million, preliminary data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.
In its latest trade report, the PSA said export receipts from CNO in the first four months of the year were lower by $247.002 million, as the world market price of vegetable oil continued to decline.
For the month of April alone, the value of CNO exports slid by nearly 24 percent to $79.69 million, from $104.728 million recorded in the same period last year.
The World Bank’s price monitoring report showed that the average price of CNO during the January-to-April period declined by almost 26 percent to $1,228 per metric ton, from $1,659 per MT recorded last year.
On a monthly basis, the average quotation of coconut oil in April reached $1,138 per MT, recovering from a 28-month low of $1,124 per MT recorded in March.
However, the April average price of coconut oil is nearly 28 percent lower than last year’s $1,580 per MT.
The World Bank has already slashed its forecast for the average price of coconut oil this year by 20 percent to $1,275 per MT, from $1,593 per MT, due to higher-than-expected production.
The average price of coconut oil in 2017 reached $1,603 per MT, 8.67 percent higher than the previous year’s average of $1,475 per MT in 2016, according to the World Bank.
Revenues from coconut-oil exports could decline by at least a fifth to $1.2 billion due to lower international prices, according to the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA).
In terms of volume, however, PCA Administrator Romulo J. de la Rosa said coconut oil shipments for 2018 could rise by 8.46 percent to 1 million metric tons (MMT).
“We can hit 1 MMT of coconut oil exports this year. But if prices will remain at their current levels, then we can expect lower receipts, even if we ship 1 MMT,” de la Rosa told the BusinessMirror.
Receipts from coconut oil shipments expanded by 30.56 percent to $1.504 billion last year, from $1.152 billion in 2016. Coconut output in 2017 rose by nearly 17 percent year-on-year.
Image credits: Cargill Inc./Bloomberg