Sales of coconut water in the UK is now worth almost £60 million, according to the latest InfoScan data from FMCG market insight firm IRI.
This sales activity is an increase of 64 per cent in the year to March 26, 2016 when compared to the year before.
Edible coconut products are increasingly seen as healthy, tasty and good for the diet while coconut extract and oils are popular in hair and beauty products.
Coconut oil is also worth more than £14 million per year in sales to the UK supermarkets and has seen a 112 per cent increase over the previous year. While coconut oil sales are increasing, many other oils, such as vegetable and sunflower oil, are declining.
The data also suggests that it is not necessarily the coconut flavour that is driving consumer demand.
For example, sales of yoghurts flavoured with coconut are slightly down 4.4 per cent while new brands that are dairy-free alternatives and made from coconut milk are increasingly popular with consumers.
This suggests that it could be the nutritional benefits of coconut that consumers crave with free-from ranges boosting sales.
Coconut milk also appears to be benefiting from shoppers looking for alternatives to traditional dairy varieties with value sales up by 67 per cent to £16.4 million in the past 12 months.
“Coconuts, and coconut oil in particular, seem to be the popular choice at the moment,” said Tim Eales, director of strategic insight at IRI.
He said the figures indicate that shoppers are becoming more discerning in their choices.
IRI’s data also shows that coconut hair and beauty products continue to make an impact with shoppers, with coconut hair products up 31 per cent, washing products up 12 per cent and beauty products up 6 per cent in the year to March 26.
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