Blitz India Business
NEW DELHI: India’s coconut exports grew a quarter in a year. Almost everyone assumes that means coconut oil. Check the composition and coconut oil is under a tenth of the basket — and it is not where the growth is.
Exports of coconut and coconut-based products from India reached ₹4,349.03 crore — about $513 million — in 2024-25, against ₹3,469.44 crore the previous year. That is an increase of just over 25 per cent in a single year, in a category that rarely appears in any discussion of Indian agricultural exports. The Press Information Bureau published a feature on India’s coconut sector on 18 August, and the Coconut Development Board has been issuing updated guidelines and technology publications aimed at production, processing, marketing and exports. Tamil Nadu leads the country in coconut production; Andhra Pradesh records the highest productivity per hectare.
A quarter more in a year: coconut and coconut-product exports rose from ₹3,469.44 crore to ₹4,349.03 crore in 2024-25 — and coconut oil is a small and slow-growing part of it.
Coconut oil exports were $50.47 million in calendar 2024. Total coconut exports were $513 million in 2024-25. The oil everyone associates with the crop is under a tenth of what India actually ships.
At a Glance
• Coconut and coconut-product exports, 2024-25: ₹4,349.03 crore (about $513 million)
• Previous year: ₹3,469.44 crore — up just over 25%
• Coconut oil exports, calendar 2024: $50.47 million, up 13.24%
• RBD coconut oil: about 89% of coconut-oil export value
• Desiccated coconut, first eight months of FY25: $9.6 million, up about 300%
• Fresh coconut, same period: $16.4 million, up 12.7%
• Leading producer state: Tamil Nadu · highest productivity: Andhra Pradesh
• Note: financial-year and calendar-year figures are not directly comparable and are stated separately here
Where the growth actually sits is the part of the story worth having. Coconut oil exports were $50.47 million in calendar 2024, growing 13.24 per cent, with refined, bleached and deodorised oil making up about 89 per cent of that value — a commodity trade, priced against palm and other vegetable oils, with the margin that implies. Desiccated coconut exports, by contrast, rose roughly 300 per cent to $9.6 million over the first eight months of 2024-25, and fresh coconut rose 12.7 per cent to $16.4 million. The desiccated figure comes off a very small base and should not be read as a trend on its own, but the direction is unambiguous: the fastest-growing lines are processed and fresh product sold on specification, not bulk oil sold on price.
That distinction decides where the value lands. Bulk RBD oil is crushed and refined at scale and returns relatively little to the grower; desiccated coconut, coconut water, virgin oil, milk powder and activated carbon are made in units close to the plantation and pay for grading, hygiene and certification rather than for volume alone. For a coconut farmer in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka or Andhra Pradesh, the difference between the two routes is the difference between selling copra at a mill gate and supplying a processor with a specification and a contract. The constructive step follows directly: the export basket should be reported by product line rather than as one aggregate, so that growers and processors can see which line is growing and at what price. A 25 per cent rise in a ₹4,349 crore basket is worth knowing. Which part of it rose is worth acting on.