Coco sap sugar industry in PH continues to grow

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MANILA – Senator Cynthia Villar announced on Thursday that there is a growing demand for coco sap sugar in the global market. Coco sap sugar is now a P100-million industry.

“This is good news,” said Villar who is also the chair of the agriculture and food committee.

The Bureau of Agricultural Research and the Philippine Coconut Authority worked together to promote coco sugar as a good alternative to cane sugar, Villar added.

Coco sap sugar has been called as “wonder sugar” because of its health benefits. Compared to cane-based sugar, it has low gylcemic index (GI) of 35 per serving, whereas cane-based sugar has a GI of 65-100. Thus, coco sap sugar is safe even for diabetics.

It was in 2007 when the country first exported coco sap sugar to the United States. Afterwards, Philippines supplied coco sap sugar to the Middle East, South Korea, Hong Kong, Norway, Canada, Switzerland, Australia, France, and New Zealand.

Because of the steady demand, Villar is confident that this will also boost the coconut industry.

“Indeed, the coconut tree lives up to its famous title as ‘tree of life’ due to the many benefits we can get from it,” said Villar.

She added that many people have already benefited from this, especially those who are in the Bicol region who were able to generate livelihood from coco sap sugar.