Philippine exports of coco oil expected to improvPhilippines (BusinessWorld) 6/7/2001- The Philippine Coconut Authority(PCA) sees the country's monthly coconut oil (CNO) exports averaging120,000 metric tons (MT) for the rest of the year, exceeding normal levelsof 90,000 MT.PCA administrator Danilo M. Coronacion points to the bigger cargo spaceshipping companies are making available to accommodate the exportcommodity as the reason for projected increase.Exporters also said they are now making advanced reservations to guaranteethe availability of needed vessels.Coco oil exporters had difficulty shipping out volumes in the firstquarter due to a scarcity of shipping space triggered by stiff competitionfrom world manufacturers of petroleum and chemicals.But vessel demand from the petroleum and chemical industry has alreadyweakened, which in turn has improved the availability of shipping spacefor CNO.PCA chief Mr. Coronacion said this development will help local exportersship out an average of 120,000 MT a month, matching the country's strongexport performance for April and May."There has been a radical improvement in our exports in April and Maybecause of that. In coming months, it could even be better because we seean increase in orders from Korea," he told BusinessWorld in an interview.Preliminary data from the United Coconut Associations of the Philippines(UCAP) show that coco oil shipments for April and May reached 120,207 MTand 124,170 MT, respectively. UCAP is an umbrella organization of localcoconut producers, millers and traders.The Philippines ships out an average of 80,000 to 90,000 MT of coco oilmonthly.Export volumes for the first three months of the year had fluctuated dueto delayed shipments caused in turn by the scarcity of vessels.Initial UCAP data indicate that January coco oil exports reached 64,928MT. February shipments then surged to 134,332 MT only to dip in March to73,712 MT.Mr. Coronacion said waning vessel demand from petroleum and chemicalexporters allowed more vessels to accommodate CNO."There's now better availability of vessels. The situation has alreadyeased up. Forward contracts for these products (petroleum and chemicals)have already been fulfilled and so we now have better availability (ofshipping space)," Mr. Coronacion said.A trader from the Coconut Industry Investment Fund (CIIF) Group ofCompanies aired a similar observation."Shipments of petroleum and chemicals are now lying low because the marketis already full. Buyers of these products also have their quotas and fromthe looks of things, they've already been met," the trader said in atelephone interview. The CIIF Group is the country's biggest manufacturerand exporter of coco oil.Shipping companies gave higher priority to petroleum and chemicalshipments exporters in the first quarter since they were willing to payhigher freight rates.PCA's Mr. Coronacion said exporters coped with the previous scarcity ofvessels by forging contracts with shipping firms specializing in thetransport of vegetable oils. This strategy, he said, assured exporters ofready vessels to accommodate their volumes. "They (exporters) have secureddedicated vessels just for CNO. Before, they simply waited for vesselsloaded with other commodities that just pass by the Philippines comingfrom other ASEAN countries," he said.An executive from the San Miguel Food Group, meanwhile, said they copedwith the lack of shipping space by making advanced vessel reservations.The company official also said they now secure larger vessels that enablethem to easily move out their increased output.This, the executive said, eliminates the need to temporarily shut downtheir CNO mills' operations whenever their storage tanks reach fullcapacity due to the late arrival of vessels."We usually book two vessels for a month. Our first vessel usually arrivesduring the middle of the month. What we did is to load not only ourestimated volume for the first batch but also part of what we expect toship for the second batch. That way, in case our second vessel arriveslate, we'd still be left with storage space in case our second vesselarrives late," the executive said.