Domestic coconut oil prices surge above palm oil

In early March, the price of domestic coconut oil stood at K130,000 per bucket, which contains ten visses of coconut oil. Therefore, it is much more expensive than palm oil, a coconut oil seller at Bayintnaung Market told The Global New Light of Myanmar (GNLM). The reference rate for the wholesale price of palm oil is K5,180 per viss, while it is K6,700 per viss in the oil market.
Thus, the cost of coconut oil is higher than that of palm oil. In addition, buyers have to order coconut oil in advance at the Bayintnaung market despite the high price.
The demand for coconut oil is much lower than that of palm oil since coconut oil is less popular for hair treatment than it was before. The retail price of coconut in the market is K600-K700 per bottle. Coconut trees are abundantly grown in the delta region, and coconuts without husks are transported to Yangon, especially from Pathein, Chaungtha, Ngwehsaung, and other coastal areas.
What is more, the copra (the meat of the coconut) is also transported to the coconut oil factories.
In the retail market, the coconut oils are sold in little bottles with prices ranging from K200 to K500. Generally, over 400 million coconuts are produced locally in a year. Among them, approximately 130 million are made in the Ayeyawady Region.
While the fluctuation of palm oil prices in the market is noticeable, the surge in coconut oil prices is less pronounced due to lower demand for coconut oils. Similar to palm oil, some volume of coconut oils are imported from abroad. — TWA/ TMT