São Paulo – The Valença Cooperative for Agricultural Development (Coofava), based in the Bahia district of Valença, exports a part of the piassava coconut for the manufacturing of Masbaha, the Islamic prayer beads, in Egypt. Currently, shipments reach 52 tons per month, according to the company’s trader, Orion Feitosa. The deal is done with a Turkish importer, but the material goes to the Egyptian market, where the prayer beads plant is based.
Feitosa says that sales to the Middle East started after a Turkish man, in Bahia as a tourist three years ago, got to know the piassava coconut. After taking a sample of the material to his country, he started to import it. The part used as feedstock is the second layer of the coconut skin, the hardest part of the fruit. The whole coconut is exported to Egypt but the first layer of skin, the softest part.
The cooperative have other business in the Arab world. It exports clove to Yemen, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, according to Feitosa. The major markets for the product are Indonesia, Singapore and India. According to the trader, Arabs use clover for warm drinks such as coffee and tea.
Besides piassava coconut and clover, Coofava produces Guarana seeds. The product is sent mainly to the drinks company Ambev, but it’s also eventually exported to Germany and France. They also produce other items such as black pepper, cardamom and cinnamon, but on a smaller scale and only for the domestic market.
Feitosa believes that the market allows an expansion of piassava coconut to the Arab world, to other masbaha plants. He says that their price is competitive, US$ 600 per ton. The product complies with the Islamic religious principles and can also be used to other ends, such as craft, earrings, buttons and wood for furnaces. He’s planning to travel to the Middle East to search for new clients.
Coofava’s exports profits reach, annually, around US$ 3 million, and 40% to 60% of it comes from the foreign market, according to Feitosa. The cooperative
is comprised of 800 family farms from Valença and its surroundings. They produce in association and supply their products to Coofava.
Coofava
Phone: +55 (75) 3641 4340
Email: orionfeitosa@gmail.com
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
