THE DILEMMA OF COCONUT SECTOR IN INDONESIA WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO INDRA GIRI HILIR

摘要

Coconut is coming back...the business that used to be termed 'sunset industry' is now giving sign of its revival. Global market is now witnessing coconut craze in which demand for coconut products has increased significantly after 6 decades of sluggish market.Coconut was a famours global commodity especially in early 20 century when coconut oil market share was approximately 20 of world vegetable oil market. During the period coconut oil which derived from copra or dried coconut meat was processed into various products such as margarine, soap, candle, and glycerin which was main inggredients for bom and ammunition used during the two world wars. No wonder copra mills were found in Europe such as in Germany, Netherlands, UK and even one in Marseille France which were far away from coconut growing areas. In this glorious past of the coconut industry, coconut producing countries that are mostly located in the tropical regions were prosperous. Two major coconut producing countries were Indonesia and the Philippines. Some coconut growing areas in Indonesia prospered during this golden coconut era.