Only 30% of SL's Coconut oil demand produced locally: CDA

COLOMBO (News 1st): The annual requirement of coconut oil in the country currently stands at 80,000 metric tonnes and only 30 percent of the country's demand is produced locally, the Coconut Development Authority (CDA) revealed on Friday (Apr. 02). "Thereby, 70 percent of the local coconut oil requirement needs to be imported," Piyasena Edirimanne, the Director of the Coconut Development Authority pointed out. According to Edirimanne, the coconut harvest in the country is not sufficient to meet the demand of industries related to coconut products and domestic requirements. As a solution to this issue, the cabinet approval was granted for the importation of dehydrated coconut to increase the local coconut oil production, CDA Chairman Piyasena Edirimanne told News 1st.