The Coconut oil industry which was under threat of competition from imported palm and vegetable oils should be protected and not allowed to collapse again, Coconut Development Board Chairman D. J. U. Purasinghe told The Island yesterday (4).

"We still import 100,000 metric tons of vegetable oil annually," Director Coconut Research Institute Dr. Mrs. Chitrangani Jayasekara said.

One of the main reasons for the decline of coconut products was the theory of some local doctors that coconut oil was harmful to health. But heart specialist Dr. D. P. Athukorale had defended the old eating habits of Sri Lankans, including the use of coconut oil in their daily diet, Dr. (Mrs) Jayasekara said.

Importers of vegetable oil were behind some of the doctors who were promoting imported palm and vegetable oil and discouraging coconut oil. This resulted in the closure of number of coconut oil mills, but the government was now giving incentives and encouraging the reopening of coconut oil mills he said.

In 1986 Sri Lanka produced 146,000 tonnes of coconut oil and exported 48,000 tonnes. But later, with the import of other vegetable oil and the false alarm raised by some members of the medical profession about the consumption of coconut oil, producers were discouraged in developing the coconut oil industry, with the declining patterns of consumption, he said.

"However under the Mahinda Chintana policy programme of the government we are encouraging the coconut industry and the extension of coconut plantations and taking legal steps to prevent fragmentation of coconut plantations. A committee to remedy the fragmentation problem has also been appointed," he said.

He has recommended the import of 20,000 metric tons of copra to save the local coconut oil industry until production could be increased to meet the demand.