Coconut exports to be worth $1B this year

China has stepped up coconut imports, enabling Vietnam’s exports to increase, it said.

Five years ago Vietnam was not on the global coconut map, but has now become the fourth biggest coconut and coconut products exporter in the Asia-Pacific, it said.

Nguyen Dinh Tung, CEO of Vina T&T Import-Export Company, said his company exports some 15 containers of fresh coconut to the U.S., Australia, South Korea, and Japan each month, and is increasing them.

Nguyen Van Thu, chairman of the G.C Food Joint Stock Company, which owns the country’s largest coconut jelly plant, said there are plans to increase exports, including of jelly.

"G.C Food is going to expand investment to raise the capacity of its coconut jelly plant to 20,000-30,000 tons a year. The products will be exported to the Chinese market."

The company reported jelly output of 2,800 tons in the first four months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 26%. For the full year last year production was 6,500 tons.

Ben Tre Import-Export Joint Stock Corporation is strengthening production of coconut dried endosperm, oil and milk for export.

Its bottled coconut juice is also popular in many countries, it said.

Workers at Vinacoco inspect coconut jelly before packaging it for export. Photo by Linh Dan

Cao Ba Dang Khoa, acting general secretary of the Vietnam Coconut Association, told VnExpress that China wants to import coconut and coconut products from Vietnam through the official quota.

Chinese consumers like most products made from coconut, he said.

The U.S. will consider allowing imports of more fresh coconut fruits from Vietnam in the second half of this year, according to the Plant Protection Department.

The agriculture ministry has added coconut to a project for developing key cash crops in the period until 2030.

The Vietnam Coconut Association is developing sustainable growing zones, and assisting with export promotion in China, Japan and the EU.

Workers package fresh coconut for export to the U.S. Photo by Linh Dan

According to statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam has 188,000 hectares under coconut and produces 1.9 million tons annually.

According to Khoa, the coconut industry would thrive because of high demand for its products, with a global surge in the popularity of cosmetics and other beauty products made from the nut.

The International Coconut Community forecast the global industry to annually grow at 10% until 2025 with some individual products such as coconut cream, juice, oil, and jelly growing by 15-36%.