KOCHI: The total production of coconuts in 1985-86 was 6.77 billion nuts and in 1995-96 it was 13.91 billion nuts. In a decade the production has increased two fold. As such the production for 2005-06 is also expected to be registering a substantial increase. It might have touched even 15 billion nuts by now. (Since official data are not available, the latest figures are not quoted).

If a proper survey is conducted either by the Coconut Development Board or by a prominent agency, it could be revealed that Tamil Nadu might have relegated Kerala to the second position in the matter of production of nuts, said N. Ananthan, former secretary of the Cochin Oil Merchants Association and former CEO of the Kochi-based First Commodities Exchange of India.

Kerala no more remained the land of coconuts; it is `God's Own Country', he said.

The question is whether the substantial rise in production is commensurate to match the growth in demand for coconut products. Under the present situation there is no possibility of having a quantum jump in the use of coconut products in the country. Large-scale arrivals of coconut products in the market would further exert pressure on prices.

Making the price stable at a reasonable level called for multi-pronged efforts involving marketing the products on a scale far bigger than had been attempted so far by the authorities to meet the existing and expanding needs, he said.

Historically, coconut and its products served as an important food for humans for thousands of years. Coconut and coconut oil are in use in the country for centuries. Coconut oil is an industrial-edible oil. Newer oils such as, sunflower oil, soya oil and palm oil were introduced by the strength of their usage in other parts of the world.

Unlike sunflower oil, soya oil and palm oil which has many big companies to invest crores of rupees in their brands, coconut oil has just two major companies in the all-India level (concentrating in the hair oil sector) and the rest are either small or medium players. Moreover, the medium companies, which are doing well in certain regions are not evincing much interest in exploring new markets outside their respective regions since their resources are limited.

He said in 1979-80, the share of groundnut oil and mustard oil in the vegetable oil pool of the country was 58 per cent and 28 per cent respectively, but in 2002-03 it came down to 14 per cent and 13 per cent respectively and the share of palm oil and soya oil went up to 38 per cent and 22 per cent respectively due to intensive campaign by multi-national companies.

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