No mature coconuts, no oil: Bagerhat mills fight for survival

A shortage of mature coconuts has pushed coconut oil production at Bagerhat BSCIC Industrial Estate to the brink of collapse, shutting most mills for months and displacing at least 1,700 workers.

Of the 40 coconut oil mills that once operated in Bagerhat town, including 20 inside the industrial estate, only 13 remain today, and 11 stay locked most of the time, officials and mill owners said.

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A visit yesterday found only Roni Coconut Oil Mill operating. Two mills at the estate have shut permanently over the past five years.

Masud Rana, owner of Roni Coconut Oil Mill, explained how the operation works: the mills do not buy coconuts directly from farmers. Traders supply the coconuts, which the mills process, and then pay the traders according to the amount of oil extracted from them.

Rana said oil that cost Tk 400-500 per kilogramme in 2019 now costs Tk 800-900, rising to Tk 1,100 in winter.

The rise traces back to the coconuts themselves. Coconut suppliers to the mills, who paid Tk 125 for a pair of mature coconuts before the pandemic, now pay Tk 250, said Babu Ghosh, a trader from Kachua.

“Since green coconuts are more profitable and have higher demand, there are hardly enough mature coconuts in the wholesale markets,” he said.

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The industry employed more than 2,000 workers and produced 25 to 30 tonnes of oil daily two decades ago. Photo: Star

This is still surprising, since Bagerhat's fruit-bearing coconut trees rose from about 950,000 in 2021-22 to 1.1 million, said Md Sharif Sardar, industrial estate officer of Bagerhat BSCIC.

But farmers increasingly harvest coconuts while they are still green, both for the tender coconut market and to avoid losses from pests and rodents.

Mill owner Jibon Kumar Saha said the shortage has persisted for five to seven years, and importing coconuts from India's Kerala or Sri Lanka costs too much.

His mill reopened after nearly three months of being idle, with no certainty about how long it will stay open.

The industry, which employed more than 2,000 workers and produced 25 to 30 tonnes of oil daily two decades ago, has also suffered from falling demand for coconut oil since 2006, when packaged edible oil became widely available.

Worker Sudeb Das said his mill now runs a single machine instead of three, opening only when coconuts are available. He finds outside work when it is shut.

Established in 1996 on 19.30 acres along the Bhairab river, the estate now has 52 industrial units across 119 plots.