Coconut Oil (Crude CNO and RBD Coconut Oil)

Crude and RBD coconut oil from Philippine, Indonesian and Sri Lankan mills, bought on FFA as lauric, moisture and Lovibond colour

Coconut oil is the lauric oil pressed or solvent-extracted from copra, the dried kernel of the coconut, and it is bought on a short set of numbers. Codex CXS 210-1999 puts coconut oil at an iodine value of 6.3-10.6, a saponification value of 248-265 mg KOH/g and lauric acid (C12:0) at 45.1-53.2% of the fatty acids, which is what gives it lather in soap, the right chain length for fatty alcohols and a sharp melt in confectionery fats. Crude coconut oil is contracted on FOSFA terms on free fatty acid expressed as lauric acid, moisture and impurities and colour, with the buyer's maxima written into the contract; the mill's copra decides most of it, since wet copra above the Philippine 6% "resecada" moisture reference grows lipolytic moulds that raise FFA before the oil is ever pressed. RBD coconut oil is crude oil that has been neutralised, bleached with earth or carbon and steam-deodorised: the APCC quality standard runs FFA as lauric 0.1% max, moisture and volatile matter 0.1% max and colour 1 red max in a Lovibond cell, and Codex allows refined oils an acid value of 0.6 mg KOH/g and a peroxide value of 10 meq/kg at most. Virgin coconut oil, cold-pressed from fresh kernel rather than copra, is a different product with its own APCC standard and its own buyers.

UN Comtrade 2024 export declarations put crude coconut oil (HS 1513.11) at 1.48 million MT worth USD 1.98 billion: the Philippines shipped 1.07 million MT, Indonesia 333,000 MT, Sri Lanka 16,900 MT, Malaysia 8,600 MT and Cote d'Ivoire 2,500 MT, with the Netherlands' 27,600 MT being re-exports from Rotterdam tanks. Refined coconut oil and fractions (HS 1513.19) added 1.43 million MT: the Philippines 625,000 MT, Indonesia 344,000 MT, the Netherlands 191,000 MT, Malaysia 113,000 MT, Spain 37,000 MT, the USA 23,000 MT and India 17,000 MT. On the buying side the Netherlands imported 333,000 MT of crude, Malaysia 260,000 MT, the USA 169,000 MT and Germany 114,000 MT, and for refined oil the USA took 326,000 MT, China 166,000 MT, Sri Lanka 122,000 MT, Germany 110,000 MT and the Republic of Korea 54,000 MT; Sri Lanka's own crop shortfall in 2025, put by its Coconut Development Authority at 250 million nuts for the first half, is why an exporting origin also appears as an importer. The United Coconut Association of the Philippines counted 61 coconut oil mills with about 4.14 million MT a year of combined capacity as of July 2024. In bulk, coconut oil is a MARPOL Annex II cargo carried heated in chemical tankers; container lots move in flexitanks with heating pads or in ISO tanks. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers crude and RBD coconut oil from mills and refiners in these origins on FOSFA terms, FOB, CFR or CIF, with SGS or Intertek certification of FFA, moisture and impurities, colour and iodine value at loading, a certificate of origin and Halal documentation. The buyer is an oleochemical plant splitting the oil into fatty acids, fatty alcohols and MCT oil, a soap-noodle maker blending it with palm stearin, a refiner buying crude for its own RBD line, or a food manufacturer buying RBD oil for confectionery, creamers, frying and bakery fats. Send the grade, FFA and colour limits, volume, pack and discharge port.

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Excluded origins are not offered, including product re-exported, blended or re-processed through a third country. Every lot moves with a certificate of origin naming the producing plant, mine or grower country, and nothing is quoted before the seller and loading point are known.