Kokonas Indastri Koporesen (KIK) is successfully promoting and educating farmers and communities in the East New Britain Province into producing White Copra. KIK is partnering with the Kokopo District Authority and local farmers providing training on coconut nursery development, field preparation, coconut downstream processing and others.
Wards piloting the white copra production in Ramale in the Kokopo-Vunamami Urban LLG and Korai in Bitapaka LLG will soon be exporting the first batch.
White Copra is high grade copra produced using an indirect heating system. Fresh coconut is dried into clean white copra using an oven to reduce the meat moisture content to about 5%. Using indirect heating ensures that only clean hot air makes contact with the coconut kernels and a white copra can be produced. Fresh coconut meat can also be initially sun dried and later oven dried. Sulphur application is necessary during production and storage to ensure low moisture and the absence of fungus and impurities.
White copra is a high quality copra and oil extracted from white copra can be consumed without going through RBD (Refined, Bleached and Deodorized) process. Oil extraction from white copra has been widely used in South Asia particularly India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
PNG Stories VIDEO: White Copra the Game Changer featuring Kokopo’s District Administrator & KIK NGI Regional Manager:
The selling price of black copra is at K80 for a bag while the selling price for white copra is between K400 and K500 per bag.
The push for White Copra is yet another positive story from PNG and a great example of East New Britain’s drive for finding new markets and value adding to existing industries in an ever evolving world market place.
