Copra makers in the Marshall Islands set an all-time record for production in 2020 and earned themselves nearly $9 million in the process, reported the Tobolar Copra Processing Authority last Friday.
The year was so good that the total broke the previous record set in 1970 of 7,348 tons by over 1,000 tons. The 12-month calendar year record is now 8,627.51 tons, according to a report on the October to December quarter.
With the government paying 50 cents per pound for the first 11 months of 2020 and boosting the price to 60 cents per pound in December, copra maker earned $8,863,250 in 2020.
All four quarters during last year were strong, with the January-March period the best three months of the year with 2,466.45 tons collected from outer islands for milling in Majuro.
The top five producers were: Ailinglaplap 1,696.29 tons, Arno 1,314.12 tons, Mili 769.85 tons, Ebon 551.37 tons and Maloeop 526.83.
Another way to look at the statistics is that copra makers and Toblolar have a good jump for the new fiscal year, 2021, with 2,122.51 tons of copra collected from the outer islands from October to December last year.