Founder reveals how Indonesia, Philippines' policies sparked Kerala gangs, a coconut oil crisis & chutney woes in India
According to Mathur, such is the demand in global market that thieves are forming organized gangs to steal coconuts from trees in Kerala.
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Why has the cost of Coconut oil shot up so much?
According to Mathur, the reason for this price shock lies on the supply side. He said that Indonesia and Philippines, the world's top producers and exporters of Coconut oil, were affected by El Niño from July 2023–June 2024 which disrupted coconut flowering and fruit growth.
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"Since coconuts trees take about a year to give fruit, the cascaded impact is now showing up w.e.f October 2024," he added.
— Rahul_J_Mathur (@Rahul_J_Mathur)
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As per the tweet of Mathur, Philippines' mandate of coconut oil blending in diesel and Indonesia's plant to restrict the export of raw Coconuts to ensure the availability to local oil makers & to stabilize the price in its domestic market have triggered a price shock.
According to Mathur, the rise in coconut prices are affecting companies like
Marico
, maker of the iconic Parachute brand, copra (dried coconut kernel) is a key raw material that drives costs.
"Over the past year, as copra prices surged by 40–50%, it forced the company to hike Parachute's retail price by nearly 30%," Mathur claimed.
Kerafed, the largest producer of coconut oil in the country, has also hiked the price of coconut oil to Rs 529 per litre while the price of many popular brands has crossed Rs 600, Mathur's tweet claimed.
Mathur cited impact of rising prices of coconut oil on resturants and small businesses as well. In the tweet he cited example of caterers which used to use 400-500 coconuts just for chutney but now it is using just about 350 coconuts.
According to Mathur, All Kerala Caterers Association used to purchase around 1,000 ltrs of coconut oil per month; the price hike has brought an additional burden of Rs 3 lakh.
Mathur alleged that the government is not responding to the crisis as coconut oil consumption in India is much lower compared to other oils.
According to Mathur, out of the 260 lakh tonnes of edible oils India consumes annually, 42% is Palm Oil, 18% Soybean Oil, Sunflower & Mustard Oils are 15% each while Coconut Oil consumption stands at around 4 lakh tonnes or is about 1.5%.
"Coconut Oil consumption is concentrated in Southern India. The rest of India leans heavily on mustard, soybean, and sunflower oils in their daily cooking. Nonetheless, this topic is relevant to all of us in India - especially if you like me love Coconut water & other coconut based products!," Mathur added.
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