Copra tonnage brought into the Majuro Tobolar Processing Authority showed steady decline all year long as the number of government ships in service decreased. Copra is dried coconut that is processed into coconut oil.
A total of 4,036 tons were processed at the mill during the fiscal year that ended September 30. That is the lowest since 2002, when fewer than 3,000 tons were milled. Three years ago, the copra level was over 7,000 tons.
“The problem is purely shipping,” said Tobolar’s acting manager Wilfred Candilas on Monday last week. “There is a lot of copra in the outer islands.
The problem is getting it into Tobolar.”
The aging fleet has seen government ships in port for long stretches for maintenance or awaiting dry-docking.
Candilas doesn’t expect October to be much better than September, which saw the anemic level of 159 tons brought in from the remote outer islands.
But with three ships now back in action, Candilas is hopeful that the last two months of the year will see a significant increase in copra for Tobolar to process into coconut oil.
Tobolar recently raised the price to 25 cents a pound, matching its highest ever buying price. Still, he said, “even if we increase the price, the copra can’t get in without ships.”
Ailinglaplap Atoll managed to be the number two producer in the country in 2011 despite suffering long droughts in ship service this past year. For five months — from March through July — this atoll had no copra pickup service.
