From Commodity to Product: A Secondary Data Analysis of Value-Added Gaps in Coconut Agribusiness in Gorontalo, Indonesia and Thailand

Kalzum R Jumiyanti; Barmin R Yusuf; Deffrinica; Rais Dera Pua Rawi; Houria Ben Gharbi

doi:10.70716/ecoma.v4i3.549

Authors

Kalzum R Jumiyanti Department of Development Economics, Universitas Gorontalo, Indonesia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7371-5301
Barmin R Yusuf Department of Development Economics, Universitas Gorontalo, Indonesia https://orcid.org/0009-0005-8377-9631
Deffrinica Department of Management, Shanti Bhuana Institute, Indonesia
Rais Dera Pua Rawi Master's Program in Management, Muhammadiyah University of Sorong, Indonesia
Houria Ben Gharbi Department of Economics, Emir Abd El Kader University, Algeria https://orcid.org/0009-0008-4157-3354

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.70716/ecoma.v4i3.549

Keywords:

coconut agribusiness, global value chain, Gorontalo, value-added gap, commodity trap, Thailand, smallholder welfare

Abstract

Indonesia is the world's largest coconut producer, contributing 27.5 percent of global output, yet earns lower coconut export revenues than Thailand, which produces only 1.09 percent. This paradox reflects a structural value-added gap rooted in different agribusiness orientations: Indonesia remains trapped in a copra commodity orientation, while Thailand has developed a high-value processed-product orientation. Methodologically, this study uses a comparative secondary-data analysis within the Global Value Chain (GVC) governance framework to characterize each region's value chain position, combined with the Hayami value-added method to quantify and compare value-added multipliers. The gap is operationalized as the difference in value-added multipliers and average export unit values between Gorontalo, Indonesia, and Thailand, using harmonized official data from FAO, WITS/UN Comtrade, BPS Gorontalo, and Scopus-indexed literature. Three findings emerge. First, Indonesia's average export price (USD 318 per tonne) is less than half of Thailand's (USD 694); the value-added multiplier for copra in Gorontalo ranges from 4 to 10 times, while processed products reach up to 35 times. Second, Gorontalo operates under market-type governance with farmers as price-takers, whereas Thailand has advanced towards modular-relational governance through integrated processing and export clusters. Third, the volatility of the Farmer Terms of Trade for Plantation Smallholders (NTPR), fluctuating between 142.40 and 158.98 within a single year, evidences structural dependence on global commodity price cycles. This study offers the first explicitly comparative, secondary-data value-added gap analysis between an Indonesian coconut region and Thailand, with policy implications for subnational commodity-to-product transformation.

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