As we enter 2026, the global coconut industry is facing a major change in how we do business. While coconut is not yet a mandatory part of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), the industry is moving quickly to prepare for these rules. For a long time, the coconut trade was "anonymous," meaning it was hard to track exactly where every nut came from. Today, that lack of information is becoming a risk. In the future global market, a coconut product without a digital record may find it difficult to enter high-value markets like Europe. We must act now to ensure our products remain welcome across all borders.
The biggest challenge is making sure this new system is fair for everyone. Unlike other crops grown on large plantations, 95% of the world’s coconuts come from small-scale farmers, many of whom live in poverty. These farmers work on millions of tiny plots in very remote areas where there is often no internet and poor roads. This creates a "compliance paradox": we are asking farmers who may not even have a smartphone to provide digital maps and GPS data of their land. If we do not help them, these 23 million households could be blocked from the global market, which would push them further into poverty.
For coconut processors and exporters, this shift means the old way of mixing different oils, known as "Mass Balance," is no longer enough. To meet modern standards, the industry must move toward "Segregated" supply chains, where compliant oil is kept completely separate from non-compliant oil. This requires factories to change how they work, physically separating production runs and tracking every batch with a digital ID. These changes are expensive and create more work for the processors, who now act as "Gatekeepers" responsible for the accuracy of all digital data sent to international systems.
The ICC is working on a strategy to build a bridge between these new rules and the reality of the small farmer. We urge governments to speed up land-mapping projects. By creating "Green Lanes" for areas where there is no risk of deforestation, we can reduce the paperwork and cost for individual poor farmers. We should also ask global buyers to pay a "Traceability Premium" to help cover these costs, ensuring that the price of digital tracking does not come out of the farmer’s pocket. Ending "anonymous trade" is an opportunity to bring our smallholders into the formal global economy for the first time. However, this will only work if we provide the right technology and fair financial support. In 2026, we want to prove that the coconut industry is not just sustainable by nature, but transparent by design. We must work together to ensure that as the world moves toward digital trade, no farmer is left behind.