What makes VCO expensive.

[Guest guest]

Dear members,

Other than being consumer, I also produce VCO in Sumatra and sell

them around Jakarta.

From what I learned in Indonesia (ie. my competitors), water clear

pure organic VCO shouldn't be difficult to find. But I am concerned

that VCO can be very expensive when it reaches American, European or

even Australian stores.

In my opinion, two things contribute to this high price:

1. Manufacturer's overhead. Big factories has big investment to

recover. They tend to locate in Java (due to infrastructure). But

land and labour is expensive in Java, so coconuts are more difficult

to find. They can resort to automation, but then it's not much

different from RBD oil.

2. Transport and handling. VCO is bulky, and carriers like Fedex

charge by the kilogram or volume as they wish. I don't know of any

other means as yet. So far, these costs cause my reluctance to

export.

On the contrary, smallholders in Sumatra and Sulawesi can produce

more cheaply using traditional tools. It's highly manual, but

requires more stringent supervision to avoid human error. My VCO

comes from naturally grown coconut trees, mostly over 20 years of

age. Trees are extremely tall, monkeys go up, pick and drop mature

coconuts. Monkeys don't get paid, yet they don't cheat like humans :-

).

In short, there are ways to produce cheaply in villages. But when it

comes to delivering the goods, city rates apply for all services.

Irwan Tampubolon.