Coconut Oil Prices Rise on Strong Demand, Weak Supply
20-Aug-2025 01:58 PM
Kochi. The situation of supply and availability of coconut oil has become quite complicated due to a sharp decline in the production of coconut and copra due to lack of rain, strong heat waves, attack of insects and diseases and old plantations, while on the other hand its domestic and industrial demand has increased rapidly.
As a result, due to a huge gap between demand and supply, the price of coconut oil has jumped to such a high level that it is going out of the reach of the common man and coconut oil has now become a luxury product.
It is worth mentioning that the price of copra and coconut oil has also increased heavily in other producing countries of Asia - Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka etc., but it is affecting India the most because its consumption is the highest there. During the last two years, its price has increased by about three times. With this, coconut oil has become a premium product.
The tremendous rise in the prices of coconut oil has started causing great difficulties to its traditional consumers. Coconut oil is used as edible oil in Kerala as well as some parts of Tamil Nadu, but due to its very high price, consumers are now having to focus on alternative oils which include palmolein and sunflower oil etc.
Consumers of Kerala now use other edible oils for general use but save stock of coconut oil so that it can be used in such dishes in which the use of other edible oils is not very beneficial.
The price of coconut oil in India jumped three times in less than two years to an all-time high of Rs 4,23,000 (4840 dollars) per tonne, while during the same period the global market price also increased to another historic record level of $ 2990 per tonne.
According to the International Coconut Community (ICC), the average global market price of coconut oil can be between $ 2500-2700 per tonne in the second half of the year 2025, whereas in the year 2023 it was running at just $ 1000 per tonne. Coconut oil is in excess supply in South East Asia during the palm oil season, so its prices may soften in the coming months.