phrich Robust coconut business seen in 2025

(Standing from left) Romeo Chan, chair and chief executive officer, and Henry Raperoga, president and chief operating officer. (Seated from left) Jose Armando Nañawa, senior vice president, and Paul Rene Tayag, senior vice president and compliance officer

Coconut product manufacturer Axelum Resources Corp. saw record shipment volume in 2024 as shifting consumer behavior pulled up demand for its core products.

In a stock exchange filing on Tuesday, tycoon Manuel Pangilinan-backed Axelum said demand was primarily driven by “plant-based eating, expanding commercial uses, innovative non-food applications, and other emerging market trends.”

The company likewise anticipates “robust demand” in 2025 despite upward pricing and supply tightness.

“We have identified unique opportunities that will help propel us into a new era of growth in the long-term,” Henry Raperoga, Axelum president and chief operating officer, said in a statement.

“As a company, we are positive that the current global macroeconomic backdrop will remain conducive and supportive of this ambition,” Raperoga added.

Axelum’s core product segments include desiccated coconut, coconut water, and sweetened coconut.

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In the first nine months of 2024, it recovered from pandemic losses and swung back to profitability as demand from export markets rose.

This resulted in a net income of P339 million from a net loss of P428 million in the same period in 2023.

At the same time, sales surged by 20 percent to P5.1 billion on the back of volume growth.

Axelum’s major investors include Pangilinan’s Metro Pacific Agro Ventures Inc., which acquired a 34.76-percent stake for more than P5 billion two years ago.

Pangilinan said the move was a “strategic investment” for his company, especially as the Metro Pacific Investments Corp. subsidiary sought to expand in the agriculture industry through coconut production.

Axelum also recently renewed its P20-billion multi-year supply deal with international coconut water brand Vita Coco, banking on the projected growth in global demand.

Under the deal, Axelum will provide coconut water supply for Vita Coco “beyond 2030.”

Last year, Axelum installed new equipment to improve manufacturing yields while renovating its existing warehouses to augment storage capacity.

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“For 2025phrich, we will concentrate resources on strategy execution and optimizing efficiencies across the business to maximize value generation,” Raperoga said.