A 65-year tin-can coconut oil market lost: oil spoiled in plastic bottles, and learning the technology took 4-5 years

According to an October 2022 report in The Business Standard, packaged coconut oil in the country began around 1935 with Hena Chemicals. Lalbagh Chemical's 'Hashmarka' followed, then Mousumi Industries' 'Cute' around 1972 and Square's 'Jui' around 1988; between 1995 and 2002 several more groups invested in their own brands. All sold oil in tin cans, and local firms dominated the market until 2005. In 2002 India's Marico entered with 'Parachute' in plastic bottles; at the same price, buyers switched from tins to the attractive bottles. Local companies also put oil in plastic bottles, but soon the oil in those bottles was going bad before its expiry date and had to be pulled from the market. They realised Marico's bottles were specially made; it took local companies four to five years to master that technology, and meanwhile the market slipped away. Marico's sales rose from Tk 80 crore in 2006 to Tk 800 crore in FY2021-22. In a coconut oil market of about Tk 2,000 crore, it now holds 80 percent of the branded segment. Among local brands only Hashmarka, Cute and Jui survive; the rest have closed. A long-serving industry official said the local companies had no study of the market or of consumer sentiment, and focused more on cosmetics than on the oil itself.