Heaptalk, Jakarta — The Indonesian government has launched a coconut downstream program through the Ministry of Industry to increase the selling value of derivative products and expand the export market. In 2023, Indonesia exported coconuts and their derivatives worth US$1.5 billion.
“Coconut or coconut palm (Cocos nucifera) is the only member of the Cocos genus from the Arecaceae. Coconut is known as a multi-purpose tree for tropical communities. Almost all of its parts can be utilized and have useful value in people’s lives. Both as building materials and also for food to cosmetics,” explained the Ministry of Agriculture in its press release (04/13).
Coconuts in Indonesia can be processed into various products, such as cooking oil, coconut milk, copra, and coconut sugar. Coconut is also an essential raw material in the food, beverage, and cosmetic processing industries.
Producing 13 types of coconut derivative commodities
The inner flesh of the mature seed that forms part of it is a regular food source for many people in tropical and subtropical areas. Coconuts differ from other fruits as their endosperm contains large amounts of a transparent liquid called coconut milk in the literature. When immature, coconuts can be harvested to drink as coconut water, also called coconut juice.
The Ministry of Agriculture, through the Agricultural Quarantine Agency (Barantan), said that at least 13 types of coconut derivative commodities are selling well on the global market. The export of processed coconut products has penetrated dozens of destination countries across six continents, from Asia, Europe, Australia, Africa, North America, and South America.
According to the Indonesian Agricultural Quarantine Agency, almost all parts of coconuts have been exported, from coconut meat, water, shells, husks, and stems. Indonesia is also listed as the largest coconut-producing country in the world. Over the last five years, the country’s coconut production centers have been spread across Riau, North Sulawesi, East Java, North Maluku, and Central Sulawesi.
Riau contributed 395.5 tons as the largest producer of coconut in Indonesia (11.92%), followed by North Sulawesi with 271.1 tons (9.33%), East Java with 257.5 tons (9.17%), North Maluku with 240.8 tons (7.95%), and Central Sulawesi. as much as 229.4 tons (6.77%). Other provinces, including Lombok, contributed the remaining 54.86%.
