According to Subbarow, coconut farmers in Perak started noticing lower harvests in May of last year because their trees weren’t producing as much fruit. They think this drop is due to bad weather. One of the biggest coconut suppliers in northern Malaysia, Anba Coconut Trading, reported that the yield on their rented farms has plummeted by 80 to 90 percent.
Previously, the company would get 10,000 to 15,000 coconuts every two days. Now, according to Anba’s owner, P Sarasvathy, speaking to the news agency Bernama, they only get 2,000 to 2,500. She has around 420,000 coconut trees. “The trees look healthy, but the amount of fruit has gone down a lot. I’m puzzled because this has never happened before,” Sarasvathy told Bernama.
Last month, Malaysia’s Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security announced they would increase coconut imports to 500 tones per month starting in February. They plan to buy more mature coconuts from Indonesia. Imports from Indonesia had already risen to 320 tones in December 2024, up from 180 tones before, the Malay Mail newspaper reported. However, this increased demand for coconuts has led to a shortage in Indonesia’s own coconut processing industry.
In December, the Indonesian Coconut Processing Industry Association asked the government to put in place rules like export limits, quotas, or financial aid for their industry, the news website Jakarta Globe reported. The association stated that coconut processing plants in Indonesia were only operating at 30 percent capacity because the cost of raw coconuts was so high. The price of coconuts in local markets had also jumped to about 15,000 rupiah (US$0.92) each, from around 6,000 rupiah previously.
Source : Channel News Asia