Drop in coconut prices impacts local economy in Manaung Twsp

By DMG 23 Sep 2021

DMG Newsroom
23 September 2021, Manaung 

The price of coconuts in Manaung Township, Arakan State, has plummeted since last year, according to coconut dealers in Manaung. 

A coconut sold for K500 ($0.27) last year, but is only selling for K100 this year, say those involved in the trade, a price drop made more stark by the depreciation of the kyat since Myanmar’s February 1 coup. 

“The price of coconuts is slumping because it cannot be exported to other parts of Myanmar. The expenditure for transporting them is also higher,” said U Lu Hla, a coconut trader in Manaung Township. 

There are about 4,000 coconut plants in Manaung, yielding about 5 million coconuts per year. 

Coconuts have never fetched high prices in Manaung, but they did reach about K500 per coconut after construction of a factory to manufacture finished coconut-based products began in 2018. 

The factory was slated to be up and running by 2020, but that target was not met due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the manager of the factory. 

U Aung Than, manager of the Manaung Yadana Company that runs the factory, said current local market prices posed a challenge to factory operations for the time being. 

“The market price outside Arakan State is K280 a coconut. We pay K150 here, down from the previous rate,” he said. 

The factory has plans to manufacture six kinds of finished products and to buy coconuts from Ramree and Thandwe townships. 

During trial-run manufacturing, the facility produced edible coconut oil and coconut milk, but operations have since been suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic.