A proposed coconut shell charcoal processing plant in San Antonio, Quezon

The processing of charcoal is a step in the positive direction towards giving economic value to coconut shells, most of which are grossly ignored after copra making. The export potential of coconut shell charcoal looks very bright and promising. But, to date, this opportunity has remained largely unexploited. Being the world's premier coconut producer, the Philippines, with her annual net harvest of more than 7 billion nuts, has the capacity to fill a major portion of this increasing world requirement for charcoal.This project involves the processing of coconut shells to produce coconut shell charcoal on a commercial scale.The objectives of this study are to determine : 1) the viability and profitability of establishing a charcoal processing plant in Barrio Pury, San Antonio Quezon province utilizing the PHILCOA-kiln 2) its total investment requirement 3) the rate of return on total investment that can be derived from this project and 4) the export market potential of the finished product.Data were gathered through personal interviews with people directly involved in the industry, both in the private and government sectors, from various government agencies that have to do with the collation and compilation of such industry data and statistics and from foreign embassies and foreign trade organizations. Field surveys were also conducted in the Laguna, Quezon and Batangas provinces to verify certain data and to get a first hand feel of the project.Discussed herein were the project highlights, its management, economic aspects, technical study and financial feasibility and Board of Investments registration.