At the moment the import of coconuts at Joko Impex is limited to supply from the Ivory Coast. "Sri Lanka has too high an import tax for the European market. We are working with other countries of origin but so far havent managed to find the right quality there," says Hans van der Kooij.

"We receive weekly arrivals from Ivory Coast, included a share of organic coconuts. The largest numbers come in the 50 size and the market is absorbing these volumes very well. Large sizes are hard to get and the demand trumps the supply here."

This results in a price level between 12 and 12.50 Euro for size 50 and between 13.50 and 14.50 Euro for the larger sizes. "The demand is coming from the whole of Europe at the moment, according to tradition Italy and Spain will cause an increase in demand over the coming months. Now that we can no longer export from the Netherlands to Russia, we also send direct, through customers, from Ivory Coast to Russia," says Hans.

He sees an increasing demand for coconuts. "Although Christmas has a bigger influence on the demand than Easter does, we also see interest in offers at various supermarkets at the moment. In general we notice further increases in the popularity of coconuts due to the various cooking programmes in which coconuts are recommended."