PROSPECTS OF COCONUT WOOD UTILIZATION AND COMMERCIALIZATION

There is substantial evidence to argue that coconut wood utilization and commercialization have considerable potential in the immediate future and in the long term. This scenario is driven by several factors. First, in many countries in Asia, the availability of preferred tropical hardwood has declined dramatically in recent years, especially in areas with high population density. Second, the extensive stands of senile and unproductive coconut trees in the Asia-Pacific region will have to be cut and replaced by high yielding varieties to sustain the coconut industries in these countries which often constitute a pillar of their rural economies. The coconut replanting programmes in all coconut producing countries within the region would certainly release huge volumes of raw materials for utilization. Third, coconut wood processing technologies have been developed, and appropriate machinery and equipment have been developed to enable efficient commercial operation on coconut wood utilization.

From the economic and environmental point of view, it is practical to process and add value to a potentially useful resource rather than see it go to waste and pose a hazard to the environment. From the forest conservation perspective, increased used of coconut wood could potentially reduce the pressure exerted on natural forests by providing alternative or complementary raw material for housing, building construction and other uses. There is also significant prospects for income and employment generation to be derived from increased utilization of coconut wood. This prospect is both socially and economically attractive since more than 80% of coconut landholdings in the Asia-Pacific region are owned by small farm-holders.

The demand for coconut wood for housing is very high in view of the fast growing population in the region. Tourism and the economic boom in the Pacific rim could also provide an increasing demand for coconut wood products in the form of furniture and other novelty items. Since the market is price driven, small but inexpensive and easy to sell cocowood items will find their way in the marketplace not only within the region but in European and North American countries. The environmental concern of most people in the world could create a push for an easily renewable resource like coconut wood. The idea of substituting the cutting of a forest tree with products derived from coconut lumber should fit well into the thinking and feelings of environmentally - friendly people world-wide.
The increasing trend of demand for coconut wood could very well follow the success achieved in the utilization and commercialization of rubberwood and even wood derived from mango trunks. After resolving the technological problems and constraints on raw material supply availability, rubberwood is now the raw material of choice for the Malaysian and Thai furniture industry.

To sustain the utilization and commercialization of coconut wood, it is therefore necessary that the governments and the private sector consider the following:

· ensure adequate raw material supply availability on a continuing and sustained basis;· maintain active research programme to overcome technical problems and expand product lines;
· support the training of potential sawmillers and other users to build confidence in the material and create a critical mass of investors and entrepreneurs in the coconut wood industry; and
· support a private sector led promotional campaign to convince all players in the industry and its potential users and consumers on the versatility of coconut wood.

Table 1 - Asia and Pacific: Coconut Area, 1991-1995 (in 1000 Ha)

Country		1991	1992	1993	1994	1995
A. APCC member Countries		10,071	10,105	10,090	10,272	10,437
	Asia	9,533	9,548	9,529	9,706	9,852
	India	1,514	1,529	1,538	1,635	1,669
	Indonesia	3,573	3,599	3,636	3,681	3,712
	Malaysia	320	315	310	305	290
	Philippines	3,093	3,077	3,075	3,083	3,164
	Sri Lanka	419	419	419	419	419
	Thailand	389	389	336	397	412
	Vietnam	225	220	215	186	186
	Pacific	538	557	561	566	585
	F.S. Micronesia	17	17	17	17	17
	Fiji	56	65	65	65	64
	Papua New Guinea	260	260	260	260	260
	Solomon Islands	59	59	59	59	59
	Vanuatu	96	96	96	96	96
	Western Samoa	36	46	50	55	75
	Palau	14	14	14	14	14
B. Other Countries		111	111	109	109	109
	Asia	63	63	64	64	64
	Bangladesh	31	31	31	31	31
	Myanmar	29	29	30	30	30
	Others	3	3	3	3	3
	Pacific	48	48	45	45	45
	French Polynesia	5	5	5	5	5
	Kiribati	26	27	25	26	25
	Others	17	16	15	15	15
	Total	10,182	10,216	10,199	10,381	10,546

Table 2: Cocowood Resources in Asia and Pacific

Country		Coconut Area: 1995 (in '000 Ha)	Estimated Area with Senile Palms (%)	Estimated Area with Senile Palms (in 000 Ha)	Est. No. of Senile Trees (in '000 Trees)*	Assumed Replanting Cycle (No. of years)	Est. No. of Trees Available per year (up to 2015 or beyond '000 trees)
A. APCC member Countries		10,437		3,691	369,100		9,940
	Asia	9,852		3,438	343,800		8,675
	India	1,669	20	334	33,400	20	167
	Indonesia	3,712	50	1,856	185,600	40	4,640
	Malaysia	290		93	9,300	20**	465
	Philippines	3,164	30	949	94,900	40	2,373
	Sri Lanka	419	15	63	6,300	20	315
	Thailand	412	30	124	12,400	20	620
	Vietnam	186	10	19	1,900	20	95
	Pacific	585		253	25,300		1,265
	F.S. Micronesia	17	60	10	1,000	20	50
	Fiji	64	60	38	3,800	20	190
	Papua New Guinea	260	50	130	13,000	20	650
	Solomon Islands	59	20	12	1,200	20	60
	Vanuatu	96	50	48	4,800	20	240
	Western Samoa	75	16	12	1,200	20	60
	Palau	14	20	3	300	20	15
B. Other Countries		109		22	2,200		110
	Asia	64	20	13	1,300	20	65
	Bangladesh	31
	Myanmar	30
	Others	3
	Pacific	45	20	9	900	20	45
	French Polynesia	5
	Kiribati	25
	Others	15
	Total	10,546		3,713	371,300		10,050

*Estimated at 100 tress per hectare
** Malaysia's current policy will not involve replanting but coconut area is on a decreasing trend and to be maintained at approx. 285,000 hectare-level/n the year 2000
Source: APCC Statistical Yearbook 1995.
APCC Coconut Industry Country Studies.
Personal Communications from country experts.

Table 3: Comparative physical properties of cocowood and some conventional wood

	Cocowood (Cocos Nucifera)			Apitong (Dipterocarpus grandiflorus)	White Lauan (Pentacme concorta)	Tanguile (Shorea polysperma)
Properties	Dermal	Sub-Dermal	Core
Moisture content (%)	87	182	356	83	85	88
Basic Density (kg/m3)	697	473	286	619	441	466
Shrinkage (Green to Oven-dry)
Radial	6.3	5.9	5.6	6.8	3.7	4.1
Tangential	6.6	6.1	5.8	12.7	7.5	7.7

 Table 4: Mechanical and related properties of cocowood

		Static Bending			Compression Parallel To Grain		Compression Perpendicular To Grain
Basic Density (Kg/A3)	Moisture Content (%)	Modulus Of Elasticity (MPa)	Modulus Of Rupture (MPa)	Stress At Proportional Limit (MPa)	Modulus Of Elasticity (MPa)	Maximum Crushing Strength (MPa)	Stress At Proportional Limit (MPa)	Impact Bending (N)
600 and above	57	10,857	86	51.6	7,988	49	8.3	20.2
	12	11,414	104	61.7	9,747	57	9.0	20.1
	107	6,880	53	30.4	5,151	31	2.8	18.3
400 to 599
	12	7,116	63	38.4	5,282	38	3.4	10.1
	240	3,100	26	13.1	2,287	15	1.3	8.4
250 to 399
	12	3,633	33	15.4	2,914	19	1.7	9.0

Sources FAO, Assessed on 21 February 2016