April coconut oil exports drop 14% to 55,800 MT — UCAP

Coconut oil exports fell by 14.2 percent to 55,800 metric tons (MT) in April from 65,051 MT a year earlier, data released Tuesday by United Coconut Association of the Philippines (UCAP) showed. April shipments may be a base effect coming from higher exports in the first quarter of the year, according to an industry official. The volume last April may have been a cyclical low for the year, following higher year-on-year shipments in the first quarter, said UCAP executive director Yvonne Agustin, noting buyers in major markets may have already filled their needs in the meantime. “This...  doesn’t mean that there will be no recovery,” said Agustin. “There have been large shipments from January to March so they may have already satisfied their stock requirements,” she added. Shipments last March rose by 125 percent to 144,000 MT from 63, 649 MT a year earlier, while exports last February grew by 44 percent to 61, 800 MT from 42, 854 MT In January, shipments wet up by 81.35 percent to 115,186 MT from 63,517 The Philippines ships up to 80 percent of its coconut oil to the United States and Europe. — VS, GMA News