Coconut prices rise to an all-time high
At this time, in many gardens in Ben Tre and Tien Giang provinces, fresh coconuts are being sold at 150,000-170,000 VND/12 fruits; dried coconuts are being sold at 200,000-210,000 VND/12 fruits (depending on quality). This is the highest price ever.
Currently, Ben Tre and Tien Giang provinces have more than 100,000 hectares of coconuts. According to gardeners, coconut productivity in the dry season has decreased due to impact of drought and salinity in previous years and pest attacks, leading to "demand exceeding supply", traders have to hunt to the gardens to buy.
Speaking to reporters of Industry and Trade Newspaper, Mr. Cao Ba Dang Khoa - General Secretary of Vietnam Coconut Association said that not only in Vietnam, but also in other Asian countries such as the Philippines or Thailand, coconut prices have also increased sharply, reaching record highs due to reduced supply and rapidly increasing export demand.
Notably, with fresh coconuts alone, in recent times, Vietnam has opened many large markets, including Chinese and US markets, creating a domino effect, many markets have increased their search for Vietnamese coconuts.
Accordingly, the US imports this item from 17 countries and territories around the world, in which main coconut supply comes from Mexico, Thailand, Costa Rica... In the US market, coconuts are consumed all year round,consumption level in this market is very good and prices are stable.
Along with the US, China also increased its import of fresh coconuts from Vietnam after Vietnam signed Protocol on official export of fresh coconuts to China in August 2024. According to data from Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, in the first two months of 2025, Vietnam became the third largest coconut supplier, accounting for 20% of China's total import turnover.
Talking to reporters of Industry and Trade Newspaper, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tung - Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Director of Vina T&T Group said that while durian export orders are facing difficulties in Chinese market due to issue of tightening quarantine, export volume of coconut is still very good.
According to data from Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, in February 2025, Vietnam's fresh coconut exports earned 13.4 million USD, an increase of 45% over the same period last year. In the first two months of the year, fresh coconut exports reached 33.3 million USD, an increase of 18% over the same period in 2024. Of which, exports to the US market increased sharply by 46% over the same period last year.
In addition to fresh coconut, processed coconut products exported to other countries also tend to increase sharply. Specifically, in the first 2 months of 2025, Vietnam supplied 43.8 million USD of processed coconut products to many countries around the world, an increase of 86% over the same period in 2024.
Focus on building coconut product brands
Vietnam has about 25 provinces with coconuts, concentrated in the provinces of the Mekong Delta. In 2024, Vietnamese coconut industry with more than 200,000 hectares ranked 5th in the world in terms of area with a yield of 2 million tonnes, raising total export turnover of the industry to 1.089 billion USD. Vietnam is currently in the group of 10 largest coconut producing countries in the world, so export potential of this item is still very large.
Mr. Cao Ba Dang Khoa said that coconut exports are divided into 4 groups of enterprises with main products. Firstly, enterprises and products of the food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries with more than 45 types of products, more than 50 enterprises producing deep processing, contributing about 43% of total export turnover.
Secondly, enterprises and products of the handicraft, wood and agricultural substrate industries with more than 30 diverse products, including handicraft products, wood, coco peat substrate, coconut shell charcoal, environmental treatment substances from coal and specialized coconut production machinery. About 15 enterprises produce and export directly, the rest are unstable trading enterprises, contributing about 23% of the total export turnover of the whole industry.
Thirdly, enterprises producing raw materials such as crude coconut oil, coconut water fat powder, frozen coconut, frozen coconut milk, etc. This group currently has 5 domestic enterprises and 14 enterprises with foreign direct investment (FDI), contributing about 18% to export turnover of the whole industry.
Fourth, group of enterprises and products producing and trading fresh coconuts accounts for 16% of total export turnover of the whole industry.
Vietnam's advantage is that it is a pure natural coconut variety, self-nursed, self-bred, not genetically modified or crossbred, so Vietnamese coconuts have a characteristic aroma and sweetness, so Americans and Chinese people especially like them.
In addition, exporting fresh coconuts has many advantages such as easy transportation, long preservation time. In addition, coconuts can also be processed into many other products such as: dried coconut, coconut milk, canned coconut water, raw materials for the production of cosmetics, etc.
Mr. Cao Ba Dang Khoa also commented that the high price of coconuts is a good sign for Vietnamese coconut growers after many years of facing market fluctuations. However, for export enterprises, they are also very "nervous" due to high prices and unstable purchasing of fresh coconut materials.
For sustainable development of the coconut industry, Vietnam needs to pay more attention to deep processing and branding of coconut products such as coconut oil, canned coconut water, natural cosmetics and handicrafts. In addition, the link between farmers and businesses needs to be tightened through long-term contracts and chain production models. This is to meet the stable domestic raw material source for Vietnamese coconut processing and exporting enterprises.

Source: Vitic/ congthuong.vn