According to Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (FAMA) senior director of fresh produce Mohd Anis Mohd Yasin, supply has dropped from Indonesia, from where Malaysia has been importing most of its coconuts in the past few years.
“Supply has gone down but demand is high so prices have increased slightly.
“Before, it was 70 sen per coconut but now it is RM1.30,” he was quoted as saying by the daily, explaining the almost 90% increase in the price of coconuts.
Anis also attributed the drop in supply to the Indonesian farmers switching from planting coconuts to paddy farming for rice.
“There were also floods (in Indonesia) which disrupted supply and we are now competing with Thailand to buy coconuts from Indonesia,” he told The Star.
The demand for coconuts rises in the first two months of every year, in view of the Hindu festival, Thaipusam, which falls on Feb 9 this year.
“We import about one million coconuts per month but during Thaipusam we import an additional one million,” Anis said.
Meanwhile, Federation of Malaysian Consumer Associations (Fomca) deputy president Mohd Yusof Abdul Rahman called for Putrajaya to invest more in agricultural research.
“Right now, there is a lack of research into how to increase our coconut production so that we don’t have to rely on imports,” The Star quoted Yusof as saying.