Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner With a Taste For Coconut Oil!



Chemical Plant Superstructure and Worker

 BASF and Cargill, two of the world’s largest agribusiness and chemical conglomerates, have teamed-up for a joint venture in coconut oil production in the Philippines and Indonesia.

BASF, the German chemical company and Cargill, the American agricultural company will provide palm seedlings, fertilizer and technical management services to 2,500 small producers of coconut oil in Pacifica.

BASF and Cargill Joint Venture Objectives

The objective is to establish an auditable, certified supply chain for coconut oil. The BASF and Cargill joint venture is partially financed by the German government. Since the Middle Ages, German state ministries have been at the forefront of developing government regulations requiring purity in consumer and industrial products.

Global Coconut Oil Production

According the USDA Indonesia, the Philippines along with Malaysia are the world’s largest coconut oil producers: USDA Foreign Agricultural Service Report-Coconut Oil.

The joint press release did not mention small producers in other countries that produce coconut oil  like India, Fiji, Tahiti and Jamaica.

Consumer Demand for Coconut Oil

The BASF and Cargill joint venture coincides with increasing consumer demands for coconut oil  for uses like the following:

• For cooking oil use,
• In cosmetics formulas especially moisturizers, and
• Biofuel use in diesel engines.

Consumers are reading blogs, other media reports and medical research which document that coconut oil benefits human health in several ways.  The BASF and Cargill joint venture  may mean that major global corporations have recognized consumers’ demands for coconut oil.