Oil Producers appeal for suitable grinding machine

The Virgin Coconut Oil Producers’ Association has appealed to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the government to provide them with a bigger capacity grinding machine to produce more oil to meet the demand of customers in Britain.

The chairman of the Association, Mr George Mochiah, told the GNA in an interview that the current grinding machine provided them by the CSIR after their training to produce oil for some local companies and for export to Britain was not suitable for production.

He said the machine is small with a low capacity and cannot grind 100 dry coconuts a day.

Mr Mochiah said since the company started operation in September last year, only 15 gallons of the oil had been produced and sent to the CSIR and added “there is no problem with raw materials and most farmers are prepared to sell their coconut to CSIR.”

He said the company would be able to produce more Virgin Oil to meet export demands and added that the company had suspended operations and waiting to hear from the CSIR.