Sri Lanka has exported 26115 M/T in 2014 against 10530 M/T for the same period in 2013 for the period referred to above.
Sri Lanka's D/C exports are likely to have a bright future from a short and medium term market perspective due to Philippines D/C production being affected by Cyclones.
Philippines is the world's largest exporter of D/C. Her main market is the US with which country she has close political and economic ties. Last year the Philippines was seriously affected by a typhoon in which more than 30 million coconut trees were destroyed which to a great extent affected D/C production. Again Philippine was seriously affected by another Cyclone recently and it would have caused a considerable damage to the D/C industry.
Already Sri Lanka's exports have received a major shift from the Middle East and Europe to USA.
Sri Lanka has been a major exporter to the global market of desiccated coconut for many years. Desiccated coconut (D/C), a basic by-product of coconut with limited technological input has been a foreign exchange earner for the country for a long period of time.
Sri Lanka was in fact the birth-place of the desiccated coconut industry, when nearly a century ago, a Colombo based European firm established the first ever desiccated coconut factory in the world, in Sri Lanka - then known as Ceylon.
Ever since then, "Ceylon Desiccated Coconut" as it was then known, has remained a popular and affectionate name in the confectionery trade the world over. Sri Lanka DC is famous for its unique taste and as a result it is enjoying a premium price in certain market segments. Sri Lanka DC is available in various grades such as Super Fine, Fine, Medium, Coarse, and Fancy.
The end use of the product is used for fillers inside Chocolate Bars, ingredient in biscuits, Toffees, and Chocolates, Cake Decorations, Baking Industry, Snacks, Frozen Food Industry, Ice Cream.
There had been the usual ups and downs or changes in demand patterns for D/C over the years but the international market situation is certainly looking up currently for D/C exports. In addition prices obtainable for the product too are promising which augers well for foreign exchange earnings from this product.(KH)
