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| Sunday, 10 February 2002 |
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Drop in c'nut and oil prices by ELMO LEONARD The housewife in Colombo and the suburbs pays Rs. 16 per coconut, from Rs. 22 per curry nut, she paid in December. A bottle of coconut oil has come down to Rs. 70, from Rs. 90 in December. In contrast, in February 2001, a bottle of coconut oil fetched Rs. 35. Further price plummeting of coconuts and coconut oil is expected by the end of this month. This follows a Cabinet decision of end-January to allow the importation of 20,000 tonnes of vegetable oil, minus the binding surcharge of Rs. 20,000 per tonne, applicable up to end-February. With the Cabinet decision, the 55 desiccated oil mills in the country, which were closed from December last year, are re-starting production, and exports would re-commence. The 100,000 persons directly and indirectly employed under the desiccated coconut industry are hopeful that they would receive a pay packet. The importation of 20,000 tonnes of vegetable oil into the country, would mean that 160 million coconuts would be spared for siphoning off into desiccated coconut mills. Even in October last year, desiccated coconut mills worked only three days per week, while agitating with the government of the time to remove the surcharge on imports of edible oil, so that they would have enough coconuts to manufacture desiccated coconut for export. The 30 per cent duty on imports of edible oil continues. But, the Cabinet decision to allow the importation of 20,000 tonnes of edible oil by end-February leaves much to be decided, the trade is unanimous. First, it is possible to import only around 9,000 to 10,000 tonnes of vegetable oil per month into the island. "It is not possible to find tankers at short notice," an importer pointed out. "The edible oil imported into Sri Lanka is largely palm oil from Malaysia. Consumable oil is imported not in crates, but in flexi tanks of 21 tonnes capacity, which are difficult by, not to speak of the availability of storage capacity, here, the importer said. "This Cabinet decision leaves the trade in a quandary," produce broker, I. D. P. Fernando said. It is good economics to allow the importation of edible oil into the country, and re-start desiccated coconut exports. But, such imports, should be on a long term basis, for, it would take the desiccated coconut shippers time to regain their markets in Europe, the Middle East and the United States," Fernando said. In year 2000, Sri Lanka exported, 82,735 tonnes of desiccated coconut, earning Rs 4,952 million. Last year, with a 30 per cent drop in coconut production, Sri Lanka's exports amounted to 50,000 tonnes, according to Coconut Development Authority statistics. This year, Sri Lanka's harvest of coconuts is expected to drop further due to dry weather which prevailed during most of last year. |
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