San Jose City, CA July 29 (Late Post) – Three U.S.-based companies, two of them owned by Filipino-Americans, have asked Filipino coconut farmers through the Department of Agriculture (DA) to start shipping to Mainland USA green coconuts or “buko” from the Philippines by September 2019.
The prospective buyers have quoted a price of at least $1 per green coconut delivered to their warehouses in the different parts of California.
Seafood City Supermarket Chain and Sun Tropics, both owned by Filipino-American families, and 99 Ranch Supermarkets, expressed interest to import green coconuts from the Philippines after a “taste-test” of several “buko” brought to the US by coconut farmer Rey Quisumbing of Zamboanga del Sur.
The marketing arrangement was forged following a trip made by the DA Secretary to the US arranged by the DA Agriculture Attache, Joselyn Javelosa.
The DA will ship this month one container-load of young coconuts from the Philippines expected to arrive in Long Beach, California by September for the launching of the Green Coconut Marketing Campaign in the US.
The launching will be highlighted by the signing of long-term marketing agreements between the three companies and associations or cooperatives of Filipino coconut farmers.
With the marketing agreements, the DA will assist Filipino coconut farmers in establishing consolidation and processing centres in major coconut production areas of the country where the nuts would be pealed by at least 75% of its green cover, dipped in solutions to prevent discolouration, packed and placed in refrigerated containers for the month-long voyage to the US.
The marketing agreement will also be used by the DA in convincing other coconut farmers to start shifting to the Sweetwater variety which has a great demand in the ever-growing health conscious market of America, Europe and China.
Sweetwater Coconut varieties start bearing fruit at three years and most of these are dwarfs allowing easy harvesting.
About 95% of the 3.5-million hectares of Coconut farms in the country are planted to the Copra-producing variety used in manufacturing Coconut Cooking Oil.
With the collapse of the prices of vegetable oil in the market, however, prices of Copra have dropped to very low levels.
The DA, in coordination with the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), have started crafting the 10-Year Coconut Industry Road Map which will see the shift to Coconut varieties in demand in the market and the establishment of processing facilities which would allow farmers to produce high value items from coconut like Coconut Flour, Virgin Coconut Oil, Coconut Sugar, Coconut Chips and Coconut Syrup.
The expected release of the Coconut Levy Fund will ensure the implementation of this shift to high-value coconut production program with the establishment of village-level processing centres.
The DA Agribusiness and Marketing Group will coordinate with the Land Bank of the Philippines to provide financing to coconut farmers who will adopt the Sweetwater Coconut variety.
The Green Coconut Market in the US, including Europe, is currently dominated by Thailand and Vietnam, countries with small areas for Coconut compared to the Philippines but quick to cater to the demands of the market.
The Philippine Coconut Industry failed to make adjustments and focused mainly on Copra production, a commodity whose price is determined by the world market.
Recently, the Philippines shipped the first container-load of young coconuts to China following the opening of the market by President Rody Duterte earlier this year.
The DA is preparing for the launching of the Philippine Fruit Festival in the US by September in time for the arrival of the first shipment of Green Coconuts in California.
The US market is also interested in buying fruit puree from the Philippines, including Guyabano and Passion fruit.
(Videos and photos by Diane Faith Garcia, DA OSEC.)
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