New coconut products have strong market potential

Wednesday, 24th June 2009, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Suva, Fiji Islands —Several promising new coconut products have been identified and discussed at the recent Asia Pacific Coconut Community – SPC Coconut Roundtable held in Nadi, Fiji.

Bottled coconut water could be developed as a refreshing beverage or sports drink, considerably broadening market opportunities for coconut products. New processing technologies enable coconut water to be bottled to taste the same as from the fresh green coconut, but with a storage life of up to 6 to 12 months.

According to Dr Rosa Rolle, a senior agro-industries and post-harvest officer of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) based in Thailand, consumer interest has flagged the product as one of the best isotonic health drinks available.

“To competitively tap into these market opportunities, coconut water must be presented to the consumer in a convenient format.”

“The quality, safety and consistency of the product must be assured by implementing good practice from production of the raw material, through harvesting, handling processing and marketing,” Dr Rolle said.

She added that since the mid 1990s, FAO has provided technical assistance and support to member countries on work to prolong the shelf-life of coconut water.

Dr Davina D Bawalan, an international coconut processing consultant, spoke of the importance of another product derived from coconut – virgin coconut oil (VCO).

“Amongst plant-derived vegetable, seed and nut oils, VCO is unique in that it is the only oil with multi-functional uses.”

“VCO can be used in a wide range of edible and inedible applications, presenting great flexibility in marketing it,” Dr Bawalan said.

She noted that copra-derived coconut oil has been produced and used commercially for more than a century, with the first coconut oil milling plant being established in the Philippines in 1908.

“Its use in edible and inedible applications is already well established. VCO can also be utilised in all applications where crude or cochin (refined, bleached and deodorised) coconut oil are traditionally used and will be a much better alternative if it can be made available in large volumes at an affordable price.”

“For edible purposes, coconut oil is generally used as frying and cooking oil because of its good resistance to developing rancidity.”

VCO could also be used as substitute for the expensive butterfat used in reconstituted milk and cheese and in ice cream to make the products cheaper and more affordable without changing their palatability. Hydrogenated coconut oil can be used for margarine, shortening and baking fats.

Coconut oil has several other edible applications. It provides a source of fat in infant formulas and baby foods because of its easy digestibility and absorbability. It is used as spray oil for crackers, cookies and cereals to enhance flavour and increase shelf life. The oil is also a common ingredient in confectionary.

Apart from its food value, coconut oil is used as raw material in the manufacture of laundry and bath soaps, biodegradable detergents, shampoos, shower gels and cleaning agents.

“With the advent of the energy crisis in the 1970s, coconut oil and coconut oil-derived coco methyl ester were tried as diesel fuel substitutes,” Dr Bawalan said.

“At present, coco methyl ester is being used in the Philippines as a fuel additive or fuel enhancer for diesel, at a blend of up to 2%, to support the country’s Clean Air Act and Biofuels Act.”
Dr Bawalan said several studies showed that adding coco methyl ester to diesel fuel substantially reduced smoke emission and nitrous oxide formation.

“In most Pacific Island countries, filtered coconut oil is blended with either diesel fuel or kerosene and used for automotive fuel and power generation.”

VCO is also finding new commercial applications as a hair and skin conditioner, an oil base for various cosmetic and skin care products, carrier oil for aromatherapy and massage oils, and as a nutraceutical and functional food.

Their comments were made during the two-day roundtable organised to discuss the latest trends in coconut processing and market prospects for the Pacific Islands. The meeting, which was attended by over 100 participants from 15 countries in the Asia- Pacific region, concluded with participants charting a way forward for the coconut industry in the region.

The Secretariat of the Pacific Community’s Land Resources Division, through its EU-funded Facilitating Agriculture Commodity Trade (FACT) project, collaborated with the Asian and Pacific Coconut Community to organise the meeting.

The FACT project aims to sustainably increase the quality and range of exports of Pacific agriculture and forestry products, and to contribute to the integration of the 14 Pacific ACP countries into the regional and global economy.