Splashed (pun unintended!) on hte pages of the ET weekender is the story about Kerala's ( India's most populous state by density) 6 bln production of Coconuts. With the US gearing up for more health drinks , investments in Brazilian produce by both coke and Pepsi have already happened. And Brazil according to the Coconut chart in ET is about 4 times less endowed than India's 10 MT(mln tonnes) and ten times lesser than Indonesa and the Phils which make 20 MT and 15 MT of the world trade in Coconuts. 

Coconut water is the latest non Soda fantasy for Americans, buying $400 mln worth of coconut water from lemonade satnds across the East coast and elsewhere in the United States

Of course apart fromt he Kerala coast another 9 bln nuts are produced int he country every year and likely with the preclusion for religious festivities the number of tender coconuts is unlikely to increase beyond the 15% currently. Also most probably like it happened with Tea and nuts earlier and coffee and tobacco exports as well, we are already discouraging farmers unknowingly from growing their nuts and forcing them to move on to other occupations

My tender coconut drink comes for less than INR 20 or 40 cents directly from the few growers who still practice direct selling but for most others, realisations are closer to 10 cents when sold by the farm to wholesale traders. Another example of it being too late in the day! 

Posted via email from The India Investment Post