How (Most) Coco is Manufactured and Supplied
Not all coco medium manufacturers and suppliers are created equal. Commodity markets in Southeast Asia produce the majority of the worlds coco coir substrate supply. These are vast, disjointed operations. Typically western buyers deal with coir companies who actually act as brokers. These dealers pull supply from any number of oft-changing coir producers and processors. The brokers sell to western coco coir companies. Buyers outsource further processing and packaging, then bring it to the Marijuana cultivation market at a significant markup. Before the coco coir reaches growers it changes hands at every step of the supply chain. With each moving part, and every intermediary, the quality and consistency of the coco – and its supply – drops.
Supplier Margins at the Expense of Quality
Many marijuana growers are seeing an increase in the overall dust content of the end product. This manifests in a couple ways:
- Slower dry backs increase veg time
- Yield diminishes from a smaller root mass
- High Dust Content = Low Oxygen Content
- Low Oxygen Content = Increased pest and Disease pressure
Industrial-scale cultivators usually purchase coco coir by the container. Their containers are arriving sporadically, 6-12 months later from Southeast Asia. This can be quantified by delays in production and the requisite revenue lost to other producers. While the initial price point may be lower than it is for high quality coco coir, it does comes at a cost.
Manufacturers Sold to Corporations
In the last couple years once reputable high-profile coco brands are being purchased by nationwide distributors, who themselves are being purchased by multinational conglomerates. Cannabis growers buy their usual brand of (once) quality coco coir from their preferred distributor, run it with their proven SOPs, and are seeing unexpected, sub-optimal results. The industry is seeing known brands and wholesale companies take advantage of their loyal customer base by using the name recognition of private-labeled branding to push substandard coco. RIOCOCO has brought on many new clients – especially over the past year – who have been burned in this way.
The RIOCOCO Difference
RIOCOCO is 100% independent. We maintain control and ownership in every step of our coco coir substrate supply chain. We source coconut husks from our CEO Shan Halamba’s network of palm plantations throughout central Sri Lanka. These are transferred on our vehicles to RIOCOCO processing facilities. Longtime RIOCOCO employees wash, dry, grade, compress, and package our product using proven methods. We then ship either directly to your facility or to our distribution center in Dallas, TX. Here our core group of stateside employees work directly with our clients to understand their time frames and tailor a dispatch schedule to their unique needs. Like anything else in life, you get what you pay for. Why gamble with your roots? Know that RIOCOCO, your coco medium manufacturer and supplier, has the success of our growers at the forefront of all we do.