Bloomberg's Fieser on Coconuts, Niquette on China in US (Audio)

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You're listening to taking stock with pin box and Kathleen Hayes on Bloomberg Radio, have you been drinking coconut water? Well, if you're like many of the consumers in the developed world, you've never been keener than you have now on coconut water. Starbucks, for example, wants the tropical fruit in order to use it for its milk to make lattees, and the celebrity Rihanna promotes its water as a trendy sports drink. But will there be any coconuts left to actually provide that

all that customers want as a refuser? Is our Caribbean correspondent for Bloomberg News and joins us now from Santa Domingo, the Dominican Republic, EZRA. Thank you very much for being here and thank you for your story. Uh tell us the details of the coconut business. I'm glad to be here. Sure, in the last decade in the United States and Europe, we've seen an explosion in the demand for coconuts. As you mentioned, coconut water is that increasingly trendy drink. Um

coconut milk, coconut creams are in demand. Even the husks from coconuts are being used for um car parts and the end seats and vehicles for the filling. So there's been a real explosion in the demand worldwide for UM coconut products. Meanwhile, in the Caribbean, UM they've never really rebounded from when the demand was lower. They've struggled with natural disasters and insect UM that spreads what's called lethal yellowing disease. That's that kills up the fruit and has

killed entire plantations, and farmers just haven't replanted UM. So they're not able to keep up with the demand that we've seen increasing in the last decade. But they could UM. They could start planting more and I'm assuming as the prices rise the incentive is there. It's not like UM, you know, the base that are dying off or bananas that are some day never gonna be possible to grow again. It's just that they haven't really been on their a

game lately. Right, Yeah, Well, there's two things that uh em play here. First is this legally yelling disease. Yellowing disease is pretty devastating across the Caribbean, and they really

haven't figured out a way to replace. The current is what's called the tall Atlantic palm, with another ridle that that yields the same fruit um and even when they do replant a palm tree, it takes about seven years for to start producing coconuts, So there's a delay there between the time that they replant these plantations and they actually begin to yield fruit. And then the other thing is for some of these farmers that have these small

farms and they're contributing their buying. We visited a distributor up in north coast of the Dominican Republic who who bought from local farmers, and he told us that, you know, the price has increased, so they're receiving more for and they've planted less, but their income is the same. So there's really no incentive for them to cut down their trees and replant or expand their plantations because their income

is the same due to the increasing prices. As is it possible that other markets will fill the gap, because as you note, the coconut is not indigenous to the cur that's true, and it's not one of the largest producers in the world. In the Asian countries, Philippines, Um, India, Indonesia are the world's leaders, and across the globe, we have seen in the last twenty years. In the ten years um a increase in production and um the amount of an increase in the amount of land that's planted

for coconuts. So the people, like the producers of Vita Cocoa in the US, which consumers are certainly recognized, said that they have no no issues with um, you know, sourcing their coconuts and they're not worried about a worldwide shortage. I believe that the Vita Coca they source a lot

of their coconut water from Brazil. Correct, that's correct. Actually, the story there goes um that the two founders of Vita Coco met two Brazilian women in a bar in Manhattan and asked them what they missed most from their home country, and they said the coconut water. And that's where the idea for but Coco was born. So they sigh,

all right, Azra, thanks very much. Awesome story and Santa Domingo must be a sweet place to be as well as refeaser as our Caribbean correspondent in Santa Amingo, Dominican Republic talking about the shorage and coconuts. This story has gotten a ton of hits on the website, so definitely check it out. When you have a chance on Bloomberg

dot Com. Let's go now to my favorite place in the entire world, Columbus, Ohio, where Mark Nakatt, the government reporter for Bloomberg News, standing by to talk to us about what's going on in global politics and Mark, we're going to kick it off in China reviving the heartland. What what's going on with China really coming here to

buy stuff? Yes, we have a story up on the website by my colleague Andrew Meeta talking about how despite the fact that China is sort of vilified on the campaign trail as sort of being an unfair trading partner and you know, manipulating currency and so forth, China has actually been uh doing a lot of investing in the United States and particularly here in Ohio where I'm based.

The story talks about how we have, uh there's an old General Motors factory that used to make Chevy trailblazers that shut down a few years ago, and uh Chinese glass company Fulio Glass has essentially taken over this plans has brought inkers to make automotive glass and it's part of billions of dollars that China has invested in Ohio and Michigan alone and across the US in terms of UH, you know, having an imprint in in um um doing

business here in the United States. I will tell you that my grandfather worked at that old General Motors factory in Columbus, Ohio for like thirty years. UM and we have a history in Ohio. I I obviously I'm a Buckeye as well. I'm from Granville. We have a history in Ohio of dealing quite well with foreign investment. I mean, I remember when Honda and the Japanese came into Marysville to put in a plant there and we, uh, we

did all right with it. And now they're going to make the accurate NSX there, which is pretty sweet, right. That was a big deal at the time. Form Our Governor Jim Rhodes had a personal relationship with the Honda chairman at the time, convinced him to come to Ohio. It was their first sort of non Japanese plant and it's worked out great for uh, certainly Honda and for Ohio.

It's a huge employer in central Ohio and for the state. Well, Mark, can you connect that with some of the political rhetoric that we've heard from both candidates because I imagine those voters also work at some of these plants, but sure do. And there's kind of a disconnect there because a lot of the rhetoric you here on the on the campaign trail, particularly as it relates to trade, is how um bad it's been for workers and manufacturing in the states like

Ohio and Pennsylvania. Um. You know, trade deals like NAFTA and the proposed TPP and are blamed for jobs and companies leaving the state and country as opposed to you know, foreign investment coming here and and then really that's sort of the pushback against the you know, the criticism of trade deals that it facilitates the kind of um uh foreign investment and job creation that's made possible by these trade deals, and you know, it's it's partly the case

that the candidates haven't reconciled that sort of this distinction on the on the trail. I mean, the voters in this cycle are very angry. You know, they're looking for somebody to blame because either they're unemployed or unemployed or their wages are stagnant. And it's easy to blame these trade deals and much harder to sort of push back and show what the value of these agreements are. Well.

The concern, of course that Donald Trump, I guess and Bernie Sanders had for about the trade deals was really, um the balance, right, I mean, how many jobs have we gained compared to how many jobs have they gained? And I guess now Hillary clintons against TPP as well, since that helps her get a few votes. But what about let's shift and talk about, um more more concerns that are candidates have with international relations? What about Donald

Trump's deal with Vladimir Putin? Right now? I mean, he is getting slammed by Hillary Clinton and a lot of people in the media, UM for saying that he thinks what uh, Putin is a better leader than Obama. Right, It's actually kind of a double whammy there. UM. In the forum that was held on Wednesday, UM, regarding issues pertaining to the Commander in chief UH and veterans UH, Donald Trump said both that he thinks, you know, Putin has been a great leader and as you said, better

than than President Obama. But he also went on to UH complain about and in almost disparage, US general is saying that they've essentially been reduced to rubble under the Obama administration. So it's kind of this double whammy of you know, not not defending United States generals and pray

sing a foreign adversary, Russia. And he's also given other interviews where he's sort of poo poo the idea that you know, Russia might be trying to hack into or interfere with US elections, you know, allegations that have been out there and concerns about foreign involvement. You know, Trump's tried to sort of, you know, suggest that might not

be the case. And it's also a left you know, Hillary Clinton in a position to say, you know, especially to other Republicans, look, you know, is this what you really want in your nominee? That you know, if a candidate, you know, even for eight years ago, had sort of praised Putin and disparaged the president United States, you would not see a favorable reaction, for sure. Thanks very much.

Mark Niquette is our government reporter for Bloomberg News coming to us from Columbus, Ohio, and you can follow Mark on Twitter at m Niquette. This is taking stock the Columbus Ohio. Are you familiar with Columbus Ohio? H I? Oh, what a Great State. Yeah, and they also produced you Well Done. All Right, I'm PIM Fox my co host Matt Miller. This is taking stock, and this is Bloombergh.