The Philippine Coconut Authority reported that Coconut production in the Philippines could miss its production target of 2.3 Million Tons of Copra because of the damage typhoons have brought to coconut producing areas last year. They are expecting only a yield of 2.1 Million Tons this year. The year before that there was also a decline in production as they were only able to harvest 2.4 Million tons.
Looking at this from a more macro perspective, the low copra yield estimates could be a barometer for the production of Biodiesel in the country as most of the biodiesel right now is sourced from coconuts. Of course I’m thinking also that this will just be a short term problem that can be addressed by shifting to other feedstocks. That is of course if they can re-tool their processing plants quickly enough to accept other sources of biodiesel feedstock.
Jatropha Curcas for one would be most suitable as the plant needs only 6 months from planting before they start producing seeds. Yep, I tested that myself when I planted Jatropha Curcas in my backyard. Exactly 6 months after planting it started flowering and fruiting. Not to mention that there is a lot of buzz nowadays about Jatropha that the government is working quickly to get people to plant it so supply shouldn’t be a problem.
The other thing that Biodiesel processors can do to mitigate this potential loss off coconut feedstock is to start temporarily sourcing coconuts from areas that weren’t affected by typhoons. Namely the island of Mindanao. It might cost a little bit more but at least you can keep your customers happy by ensuring that they have adequate supply of your biodiesel. This should also get those guys to thinking of setting up their processing plants (or at least, buying stations) in areas that have feedstocks that aren’t in the paths of the 20+ typhoons that visit the Philippines yearly.
If a shortage occurs, then this could also probably mean an increase in profits for the biodiesel processors because of the high demand. Can you say “Stock Price Jump?” *snicker*
Article here
Category: Biodiesel
December 20th, 2007 at 7:05 pm
Crude coconut oil production before the 2 typhoons late in 2006 was about 1.5 million tons per year. Of this amount, exports account for about 2/3 while the balance of 1/3 is consumed locally for food and oleochemicals. Total production this year is expected to drop such that exports will be reduced by at most 40%. Note that the drop in production only affects exports which means that domestic supply for food and other uses is unaffected.
At the current 1% mandate for biodiesel only at most 65,000 metric tons will be needed to produce the entire annual blending requirement for biodiesel. This is barely 11% of the reduced export volume. Ergo, we are just displacing exports of crude coconut oil, a low value-added product. Cocobiodiesel is a higher value-addded product, aside from being a renewable and cleaner source of energy. Even if we blend 2% to petroleum diesel we are just merely cutting into exports. We can just reduce exports of crude CNO and convert most of it to biodiesel for domestic use or make other oleochemicals which we can export at much better prices than just selling the crude oil. Our exports of crude CNO hardly end up in food; multinational oleochemical makers convert this into various industrial and consumer care products which they export to the Philippines. Let’s just keep our coconut oil at home, maximize its use and make more money for the country. Doesn’t this make more sense?