In the Philippines.Yerrag, your location says Manila. Are you in the Philippines? I'm curious if folks there still use coconut oil for cooking or have they been brainwashed into using PUFA oils also like the rest of the world?
Our coconut oils are packed in containers that say "vegetable oil." That says it all I think. I had to look at the labelling to find coconut oil written. People believe the "heart-healthy" propaganda enough for refined coconut oil to have to be sold as vegetable oil. Soya oil, corn oil, and canola oil - needless to say - sell well and are priced competitively with coconut oil. The awareness level is just the same as that in the US here, of coconut oil being good, but the oil is more easily purchased here as it's available in all supermarkets. What remains hard to find is hydrogenated coconut oil, which is called "lard" although lard is the oil from pigs. I had to go to either the oil mill or the wholesaler to buy it, as no consumer looks for it, as the thinking is it is a "bad" oil that clogs the arteries.
I use the hydrogenated coconut oil for deep frying pork small intestines and anchovies and small cuttle fish. They're very good finger foods that go well with beer and wine, but I have them also for meals. But because HCO is solid at room temperature, people are scared of using them and end up using soya oil or corn oil for that. Regular refine coconut oil has a lower flash point because of the lower molecular weight oils in them (short chain and medium chain sat fats) so it doesn't work well for deep frying, so that is a reason that some people may buy soya or corn oil as it does better than refined coconut oil for deep frying.
Deep frying requires temperatures of 190C to fry well. But the flash point of Refined Coconut Oil is lower than that, so the temperature has to be lower (or the oil starts to smoke) but that leaves the food oily. Deep fried food done correctly is crispy and must feel dry to the touch and not oily.