Realising Coconut Economic Values

Ben Tre is now home to 47 handicraft enterprises and 37 of them are involved in coconut trees. These enterprises mainly locate in Chau Thanh, Mo Cay and Giong Trom districts. Local products not only serve local markets but are also exported to other nations. Mr. Pham Van Thanh, owner of a handicraft production unit on Nguyen Hue Street, Ben Tre Town, said: coconut-sourced handicrafts have been thriving in the past 10 years. Local producers have turned used-to-be firewood into nearly 1,000 unique models of product items.

 

Skilful hands of artisans have created beautiful things from spathes of coconut trees. Shells which used to fire or carry water are made into toys like vehicles, boats, teapots, animals, crabs, tortoises, shrimps and fishes or useful utensils like bags, wallets, hair-pins, rings, necklaces, masks and night-lamps. Previously, coconut blades were used to make brushes but now are made into flower baskets, containers, lanterns and decorations. Stunted coconuts are used to make animal, human-like shapes or watch covers. Coconut fibres are the materials for mattress weaving, flower pots or animal shapes. Coconut trunks are mainly used to build houses and household utensils like bowls, forks, chopsticks, teapots, flower pots, wine pots, jewellery boxes, ashtrays and vehicle models. The retail price of a coconut tea-set with one pot and 4-6 cups is now standing at VND160,000-170,000 (around US$10). Baskets made from coconut are sold at VND50,000-60,000 each, teapot (VND80,000), fork and spoon (VND8,000-12,000), chopsticks (VND14,000-21,000 per dozen) and animal shape (VND18,000-35,000) and vehicle mock-up (VND70,000-95,000).

 

In early 2009, Ben Tre province opened the first-ever gala for coconut trees and products made from coconut. This event enabled local handicraft enterprises to introduce their products and local handicraft quintessence to the public. Many unparalleled products were shown up at the event like the largest-ever coconut mattress (12m in length and 6m in breadth) made by Thanh Binh Private Enterprise (in Chau Thanh district), a 3-metre high teapot created by Thanh Liem Private Enterprise (in Mo Cay district), coconut-made tortoise (size: 2.3m x 1.7m) created by Truong Ngan Enterprise (Ben Tre town). Due to the presence of more establishments, prices of coconut-originated products have dropped by VND5,000-10,000 each item.

 

According to local producers, their sales are very good. The combined development of handicraft and tourism is very promising in the province. However, it is necessary to rearrange small and scattered local production units. Most enterprises have not been able to directly export but sell through intermediaries in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, the two largest commercial hubs of Vietnam. Mr. Pham Van Thanh, a resident in Ben Tre town, said his production establishment is now manufacturing around 70 models of handicrafts made from coconut. His unit has progressive sales over the past four years, with annual rise of 5-6 per cent, but he is able to sell in the domestic market and export through intermediaries in Ho Chi Minh City. The owner of Truong Ngan production establishment in Ben Tre town said “Our unit now has more than 200 labourers and producing some 500 models from coconut materials. Selling prices range between VND3,000 and VND160,000 apiece. As much as 70 per cent of our products are mainly for export while the rest is to serve the domestic market. Our export revenue is around US$200,000 a year.”

 

For the time being, coconut materials like shells, spathes, fires and stunted fruits are profuse but coconut trunks are getting scarcer. Meanwhile, coconut trunks can be made into many more valuable products of customised sizes and models (a little change is made to other types of coconut materials like leaves and fruits). In recent years, prices of coconut fruits are getting higher and higher and local farmers do not fell down trees. Moreover, only coconut trees aged over 50 years are used to make high-grade handicrafts. Usually, only 2-3m root of a coconut tree can be used to produce handicraft, not all the trunk. Two or three years ago, coconut root was sold at 60,000-70,000 per metre but the figure is now VND130,000-150,000 per metre. This is also the hindrance for local enterprises to expand production. Mr. Ho Kim Tu, owner of Kim Tu establishment in Chau Thanh district, said his establishment has been operating for nine years and manufacturing more than 100 handicraft models, mainly from coconut trunk. To turn out some 800 products a month, the unit has to use around 200 coconut trees while the selling price is falling because of stiffer competition. Despite excessive demand, his establishment does not dare to scale up production because of material shortage.