The disclosure earlier this month that two of the United States’ largest beverage and nutritional products’ businesses have signed a joint agreement to develop and market a range of coconut water products may be just the incentive Guyana’s coconut industry needs to consolidate its recent significant export marketing success.
The announcement early in November that PepsiCo Inc—one of the world’s largest food and beverage businesses—and General Nutrition Centers (GNC)—the leading retailer of nutritional products in the United States—are to pursue a coconut water joint venture coincides with a boom in local coconut exports which is partly attributable to increased global demand for coconut water. Figures released by the Ministry of Agriculture earlier this year indicated that the value of coconut exports jumped to around $120 million last year compared with $16 million the previous year. The New Guyana Marketing Corporation (New GMC) earlier this year put coconut exports for last year at 2,700 tonnes compared to a modest 260 tonnes in 2008.
Significantly, coconut water was among the products which, according to the New GMC accounted for export earnings from the sector last year of around $10 million from 112 tonnes exported in 2009; compared with 32 tonnes exported in the previous year.
Earlier this year the agriculture sector reported coconut exports of more than 4,000 tonnes during the first half of 2010, an amount that reflects a significant increase even when compared with the previous year’s impressive export figures. In August, the Ministry of Agriculture announced that it had secured the services of an Indian expert to work with the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) on an assignment which included examining ways of enhancing an existing project at Hope Estate on the East Coast Demerara aimed at manufacturing bottled coconut water. Government is reportedly seeking to revive the Hope Estate coconut farm in the wake of the resurgence of the industry and has reportedly already made a modest investment in equipping and modernizing the facilities for coconut water bottling there.
The range of coconut water products to be manufactured by the two American giants are expected to hit several of the leading retail houses in the United States under the Phenom brand and according to information released on the envisaged new products they are expected to address the growing demands of health-conscious American consumers for natural products.
If it is much too early to begin to link coconut water exports from Guyana to the manufacture of the product in the United States, the country’s increase in export sales is at least partially linked to the increased production of coconut water in the Dominican Republic which is exported to the United States. Exports of coconuts to the Dominican Republic, the United States and Canada are estimated at around 50 containers a month and the local industry is reportedly eyeing markets in Europe.
In April this year, the Agriculture Ministry disclosed that the local coconut industry was experiencing a significant boom and that talks were underway with the US food manufacturing company Goya Foods, which had expressed an interest in the sector.
