Still nowhere close to finding its feet among the global big players, Guyana’s coconut industry can take heart from the fact that continually fast-growing demand for coconut and its by-products still leaves considerable lucrative market space for small operators. So great is the continual global coconut demand that the dominance of the sector by more than a dozen countries in Asia, Africa and the Americas still does not shut out access by other countries seeking to break in to an increasingly lucrative industry.
A report published in April by the research entity World Atlas asserts that the big players in what has become one of the most high-profile sub-sectors in the global agricultural sector have been hard-pressed to meet burgeoning global coconut demand mostly on account of the challenges associated with operating sustainable farms. While the report says that the coconut industry promises to be a profitable venture in the future despite the challenges facing the industry, the top coconut suppliers are struggling to meet the increasing demands of the global economy. Coconut has been a cash crop for decades and, even with stiff competition from other vegetable oils, it promises to continue to be a profitable venture in the future. The report says that the leading global producers “must learn from the current situation and take steps to ensure that their farms are sustainable enough to stand the tests of time and meet future demands.