Fresh coconut prices have spiralled to their highest levels in at least 30 years due to strong prices for coconut oil and dessicated coconut on global commodity markets.
Peter Durber, md of importer and wholesaler Tropifresh, said prices are hitting 1200-1400p for 25lb bags of medium- to large- sized fruit.
“This is the most expensive I have ever known it,” said Durber. “The biggest source traditionally is Sri Lanka, but they might have had some disease problems there because the market is really, really short.” Plantations in the Caribbean have also been “decimated by disease,” he added.
Alternative sources the Ivory Coast, India and the Dominican Republic are exporting but product from the latter is also expensive.
“A lot of product is being taken into processing and so the prices have just rocketed after remaining almost the same for the past 30 years,” said Durber. “It is well overdue - 30 years ago a 25lb bag cost 550p, and 25 years later it was 450p. Inputs have been going up and up and the fact is prices have been supressed for too long.”
Looking ahead, demand is likely to stay strong as the market for coconut water found in young coconuts grows given recent discoveries about its high potassium content and rehydration properties.
“At long last producers are getting the returns they need and deserve,” said Durber, who works with many small suppliers in Africa and the Caribbean. “You don’t have to be on the Fairtrade bandwagon to trade fairly.”
