Price Movement Influences the Major Coconut Products Production in Fiji

Subject Areas : Agricultural Economics

Divnesh Swamy ¹ , Shamal Kumar ² , William Kerua ³ , Owais Wani ⁴ , Natasha Raj ⁵

1 - College of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Fiji National University, Nausori, Fiji
2 - Department of Agronomy (Rootcrops), Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), Fiji
3 - Agribusiness and Extension, College of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Fiji National University, Suva, Fiji
4 - Division of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, India
5 - Agronomy and Crop Science, College of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Fiji National University, Suva, Fiji

Received: 2022-09-09 Accepted : 2023-07-11 Published : 2024-06-08

Keywords: Coconut, Copra, Fiji, Price fluctuations, Multiplicative model,

Abstract :

The major coconut products produced in Fiji are copra and coconut oil. As a consequence, coconut oil is the only product now exported, and price fluctuations have a substantial impact. This study examines the changes in copra and coconut oil prices for Fiji from 2009 to 2019. The present study used secondary data for analysis. Copra pricing information was gathered from Fiji Copra Millers, and coconut oil price information was gathered from the website for palm oil analytics' crude coconut oil price. The price changes for trend, cyclical, seasonal, and irregular fluctuations were computed using a multiplicative model. Both the price of copra and the price of coconut oil displayed poor connections, R2= 0.39 and R2= 0.18, respectively, despite the years' considerable price volatility. The price of copra and coconut oil fluctuated significantly throughout the year and in distinctly diverse ways. Seasonality and erratic price fluctuations were particularly pronounced for coconut oil, which directly affected the price of copra and discouraged farmers from investing in coconut plants, lowering productivity, production, and copra supply.

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