Wimal steps up efforts to revive local coconut oil industry

 Industries Minister Wimal Weerawansa inspecting a bottle of coconut oil produced by BCC Lanka, whilst other officials look on

• Industries Ministry initiates program to address shortage of raw material to manufacture, distribute high-quality, edible coconut oil for local consumption
• Weerawansa reviews progress of initiative with BCC Lanka 
• Assures release of first batch to local market by August

The Industries Ministry is stepping up efforts to revive non-operational coconut mills and to supply local consumers with a high-quality and affordable coconut oil.

Towards this end, the Ministry has initiated an expeditious program to address the shortage of raw material by the edible coconut oil manufacturers and to distribute high-quality, non-toxic, edible coconut oil for local consumption. 

This was revealed at a special discussion held this week under the patronage of Industries Minister Wimal Weerawansa to review the progress of this initiative, being conducted in collaboration with BCC Lanka Ltd., which is under the purview of the Ministry.

In February, the Industries Ministry and the Plantation Ministry jointly approved a decision to call on local manufacturers who require imported raw material to revive the non-performing coconut oil mills. 

As a short-term solution, it was decided to import disintegrated dehydrated whole kernel coconut (with brown skin) as per the specified standards laid out by the Coconut Development Authority (CDA).

This process will be closely monitored by the two ministries that aspire to build a good brand image for high-quality, edible coconut oil among local consumers.

Under this program, high-quality raw material will only be imported by BCC Lanka Ltd. and will be distributed among local edible coconut oil manufacturers at an affordable price as per their manufacturing capacity basis. 

Minister Weerawansa instructed the officials of the Ministry to implement a proper system to assess the quality of the coconut oil produced using the imported raw material.

He also drew attention to maintain affordable pricing, whilst assuring that the first batch of produce would be released to the local market by next month.

“The initiative will enable to produce and distribute coconut oil at a much more favourable price than the current market prices,” BCC Lanka Chairman Chaminda Welegama said.

He assured expediting the production and release of coconut oil from BCC Lanka before the end of next month. 

Minister Weerawansa stressed that all possible steps should be taken to make this program a success with the sole objective of providing high-quality coconut oil to the people at concessionary prices.