Financial Times

Smith’s Natural Virgin Coconut Oil from Sri Lanka

[The factory] has internationally accepted food safety procedures covering the entire process (from maturing and de-shelling of nuts through extraction, packing and dispatch) in order to guarantee the quality of its product.

Smith’s Natural brand of Virgin Coconut Oil, an indigenous product, was recently launched in Colombo.

It is the only virgin coconut oil available in the Sri Lanka but currently is being marketed for export. Smith Foods, belonging to businessman Sumith Ekanayake, who has a range of companies including newspaper publishing, says the ‘cold press’ method is udred to extract virgin coconut oil from the kernels.

“We use the finest, fresh and mature Sri Lankan coconut, which is known as cocos nucifera,” said Upul Amaratunga, the company’s International Marketing Manager. The factory in Madampe is constructed conforming to international standards as the target market is the US and the EU.

It has internationally accepted food safety procedures covering the entire process (from maturing and de-shelling of nuts through extraction, packing and dispatch) in order to guarantee the quality of its product. “Without adhering to these global standards, we can’t export to the EU, or the US,” Amaratunga said in a press release issued by the company.

Virgin oil is different from the “normal” coconut oil. It is the purest form of coconut oil. Pure virgin coconut oil is made from fresh coconuts, not copra as used for many coconut oils and the resulting product has a distinct taste and fragrance. Ekanayake is a permanent resident of Nagoya, Japan and is chairman of the Smith Clan group in Sri Lanka. He is the Vice President of The Business Council of Nagoya and also the Sri Lankan the Trade Consul for Nagoya Prefecture.

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