Advertise
The traditional coconut oil industry in Bagerhat, Bangladesh, is teetering on the brink of total collapse as a severe shortage of mature coconuts leaves production lines idle and hundreds of workers in financial ruin. Records show that of the 40 mills once thriving in Bagerhat town, only 13 remain today, with 11 of those staying shuttered for most of the year. Over the last five years, two mills have permanently closed their doors.
Mill owners report that regular production has become a logistical impossibility. The primary catalyst is a shift in farming practices: growers are increasingly harvesting green coconuts for quick market returns rather than waiting for the fruit to mature. This trend has starved the industry of its primary raw material, driving costs to record levels. Babu Ghosh, a local trader, noted that a pair of mature coconuts now commands Tk 250, compared to just Tk 80 to Tk 100 five years ago.
At the Roni Coconut Oil Mill, owner Masud Rana remains one of the few trying to sustain operations. However, the scarcity of raw materials has reduced work to just one or two days a month. This supply crunch coincides with soaring retail prices; a kilogramme of coconut oil that cost between Tk 400 and Tk 500 in 2019 now fetches up to Tk 900, peaking at Tk 1,100 during the winter months. These price hikes are driving consumers toward bottled oils from major corporate brands.
Despite the industrial struggle, local cultivation is technically rising. Motahar Hossain, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), stated that the district now hosts 11 lakh fruit-bearing trees, up from 9.5 lakh in the 2021-22 period. However, as Md Sharif Sardar of the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) explained, the preference for selling green coconuts has effectively decoupled agricultural growth from industrial supply.
The human cost is significant, affecting roughly 1,700 factory workers. Sudeb Das, a veteran mill worker, shared a harrowing account of selling his homestead land to survive months of unemployment. With factories operating only a handful of days every quarter, the traditional milling sector is facing a terminal decline that threatens to erase a long-standing local industry.
Source: The Daily Star