ACIAR CocoVeneer Objective 1.1: Market assessment and product development

High quality and high density coconut veneer and veneer-based product are new to the marketplace. Their likely acceptance can only be estimated from observation of the material’s properties, the performance requirement of potential applications, and the acceptance of similar (or competitor) products in those applications in the market. The form and material properties of coconut palms significantly influences the potential functionality of recovered coconut wood and veneer products. The distribution of vascular bundles and the resultant density variation of the material optimizes the stability of the standing palm but makes the stem a very uneven resource with uneven physical properties for processing into consistent and useful products for markets.