Coconut oil sale up 15% on palm oil import ban

The ban on imports of palm oil through Kerala ports has boosted the sale of coconut oil by 10-15 per cent in the last three-four months.

This has resulted in coconut oil prices stabilising at Rs 5,300 a quintal. At the same time, the ban has lead to palm oil prices surging by Rs 1,000 a quintal to Rs 6,000.

Earlier, the prices of palm oil was lower than coconut oil and the imported oil was widely used in Kerala and other southern states.

This had seriously hit the coconut oil market and the prices of coconut had dropped to Rs 3 each. Post-ban, a coconut is fetching more than Rs 6.

Kochi accounted for 40-45 per cent of the country's total import of palm oil. After the Union government had banned the import through Kochi port, refining companies started importing the oil through Beypore port near Kozhikode.

Later the ban was extended to all the ports in the state. This resulted in an increase in the transportation cost as a number of companies have their refining plant in Kerala. The transportation and handling charges have increased by Rs 2 a kg on an average.

The global price tag of palm oil has also increased in recent months and The wholesale prices of the oil have increased to Rs 6000 a quintal.

M J Kuriakose, president, Cochin Oil Merchants Association (COMA), said that a price of Rs 5,500 a quintal for coconut oil would be ideal as any rise beyond the level would shift the momentum towards palm oil.

Traders said as the prices of other edible oils had increased sharply, the practice of mixing refined coconut oil with other oils was on the rise. Kuriakose urged the Union government to ban the import of palm oil through all the southern ports so that demand for coconut oil rose further.

He said that in spite of repeated requests from Coconut Development Board (CDB) and COMA, the government was reluctant to ban imports citing the shortage of edible oils in the domestic market.