Coconuts have become cultural icon of Hainan

Dongjiao Coconut Grove in Wenchang, Hainan Province Photo: Yuan Chen

Come and order a cup of coconut coffee or coconut milk using your mobile phone. In the Chinese culture, coconut is a healthy food and matches well with other food when used in cooking. Coconut chicken and coconut cookies are very popular.

South China's Hainan Province is the country's main coconut producing area, accounting for 99 percent of the country's total planting area for the fruit. Not only does it boast a number of leading coconut processing companies, an international coconut trading center and a coconut cultural museum will be established to promote the development of the local coconut industry.

Bumper harvest

There is a popular saying in Hainan, "Hainan is home to Chinese coconuts, and the city of Wenchang produces half of Hainan's coconuts. "

The busy harvest season has just ended at Xinguijin Coconut Garden in Baoluo town, Wenchang. Tall coconut trees are prevalent in Hainan, but the coconut trees in this garden are of a short breed, making it easier to pick the golden fruits by just using a half-person-tall ladder.

It takes seven to eight years for the tall coconut trees to bear fruit and the yields are low, while short breed can bear fruit in three to four years and sell for a higher price.

"Coconut sales are good this year," said Wu Duojun, the person in charge of the Xinguijin garden. "I have expanded the planting area to 200 mu [13 hectares] since 2022, and my annual income has exceeded 600,000 yuan [$82,255]."

In recent years, many new coconut farmers have come to Wenchang. Bullish about the prospects of the coconut industry, the new farmers have contracted land in and around villages to plant coconuts. Zhou Yanjun, chairman of Li Xiaofeng Agricultural Technology Co, Ltd, is one of them.

Zhou is not from Hai­nan and has no previous experience in growing coconuts, but he snapped up more than 1,100 mu of land in Hainan to pursue his dream. He sought advice from experts in the coconut research institute of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences.

One expert said that before coconuts bear fruit, farmers are advised to adopt interplanting and intercropping to cultivate cash crops such as sweet potatoes, watermelons, and corn, and to raise poultry such as chickens, ducks, and geese. The cash crops can control the growth of weeds while the poultry's manure is a natural organic fertilizer. Experts say that this understory farming model can bring out the best of land resources and achieve both ecological protection and economic development.

Another expert, Wu Yi, said that the research institute regularly provides technical assistance and guidance to coconut farmers and enterprises, which can scientifically solve problems such as low soil nutrition and coconut diseases and pests.

In a low hilly area in Tunchang county in the north-central part of Hainan, with the help of technological companies and experts, 100,000 golden coconuts have been planted and yielded a bumper harvest in 2023. The saying goes that money does really grow on trees for the local villagers.

Two customers communicate about coconut drinks. Photo: Yuan Chen

Keeping up with changes

In recent years, in order to keep up with market changes, traditional coconut food processing companies have begun to innovate and seek changes.

Let's take a look at what three established Chinese coconut companies are doing.

Coconut Palm Group's main product is coconut juice. This product has become a household drink on the dining tables of many Chinese families, generating annual revenue of around 4 billion yuan in the past 10 years. In 2022, the company partnered with Luckin Coffee to launch a coconut latte. In the first week of its launch, sales reached nearly 5 million cups!

Hainan Chunguang Foodstuff Company's most famous product is coconut candy, which is available all over the world. Yan Xin, assistant to the chairman of Chunguang, said that they have now developed more than 200 types of coconut products, which have become an icon for Hainan tourism. In July, Chunguang opened the first coconut-themed tea shop in Qilou old street in Haikou, capital city of Hainan. The shop was frequented by many young people. Queues would stretch around the block to buy a popular coconut drink.

Hainan Nanguo Foodstuff Industry Company has focused on scientific and technological research and development of its products. "Ginger coconut powder, coconut cake, raw coconut latte powder... It takes about 10 years for us to develop each of our products and launch them to the market," said Liu Hanxi, chairman of Nanguo. Liu said that every time before a new product is launched, he will taste it first. "We will sell it to customers only after we have tasted it and felt good."

In recent years, benefiting from the establishment of the Hainan Free Trade Port, more and more international companies, coconut investors, and high-end talent have made Hainan their home, providing Hainan coconut companies with greater market and cooperation opportunities. Coconut companies have enjoyed the preferential tariff policies. For example, recently, Chunguang's automated intelligent production line for coconut juice imported from abroad has been exempted from the import tariff and value-added tax by nearly 10 million yuan. This is quite a sum.

Workers are sculpting on coconut shells. Photo: Yuan Chen

New tourism destination

Anding county is a township in Hainan known for longevity of its people. "A long time ago, I wanted to build a health-themed industrial park in Anding county. It is only about 30 kilometers away from Haikou, and is well-connected by transport thanks to its proximity to highway," Liu said. From 2012 to 2017, from on-site investigation to design and construction, it took five years to build the Nanguo health industrial park, Liu added.

Walking in the health industrial park, every building is linked to the theme of wellbeing, including health technology pavilion, health culture pavilion, and health experience pavilion. In the industrial park, there are also exhibitions for coconut health culture, nutrient products and automated production lines. 

In Longlou town, about 80 kilometers east of Anding county, there is also a "Chunguang Coconut Kingdom" - China's first coconut-themed factory, a tourist attraction. Here, you can see how a coconut goes from raw material to finished products.

Through the visual production workshop and R&D inspection room, you can see how a coconut is transformed into various kinds of snack foods such as candy and cookies. Strolling through the exhibition area full of coconut elements, you can also feel the rich local coconut culture.

Both the Nanguo health industrial park and the Chunguang Coconut Kingdom have similar goals: "sharing the story of the coconut island with the world."

In this regard, Hainan has unlimited room for development. For example, we can create tourism theme parks represented by Dongjiao Coconut Grove and Coconut Grand View Garden, combine production bases and leisure farms to build coconut ecological leisure farms, and explore coconut culture such as coconut carvings and folk stories to build a coconut culture museum.

If you are planning a vacation, you might as well go to Hainan Island for a sweet journey full of coconut flavor.

A livestreamer is introducing coconut oil products. Photo: Yuan Chen