New abaca pulp mill put up in Eastern Leyte
New abaca pulp mill put up in Eastern Leyte | |
The Fiber Industry Development Authority (FIDA) reported that several abaca firm are expanding one of which is that of SPMI which will require 16,000 MT of abaca fiber per year. Since one MT of abaca pulp requires two MT of fiber, it is estimated that the mill will be producing about 8,000 MT of abaca pulp per year.
"These expansion programs only mean one thing � that they�re trying to meet an increasing demand in the market. Our only competitor in abaca export is Ecuador. But Ecuador is not processing abaca. They�re only exporting raw abaca fiber," said Mystique Pelayo, FIDA planning officer, in an interview.
"That�s why we�re encouraging investors to put up mills here so it will create employment and even give producers the advantage of lower cost," she said.
According to a FIDA official, at an average price as of 2004 at $2,200 per MT of abaca pulp, SPMI, an affiliate of Chingbee Trading, could create an abaca value of $17.6 million.
Demand for abaca pulp in developed countries has been expanding in light of product developments in abaca and an intensified interest in using what is natural brought about by a consciousness on environmental sustainability.
Other companies that are expanding are the Newtech Pulp Mill which is co-owned by a German firm exporting abaca products, Albay Agro Industrial Development Corp., owned by the Gozons, and Isarog Pulp and Paper Co. (IPPC). There are six abaca mills in the Philippines �one in Laguna, two in Bicol, two in Leyte, and one in Mindanao.
While abaca used to be just a material for making rope or cordage, it is also now being used as material for tea bags, meal casing such as the very thin film for salami, cigarette paper, currency notes, and other specialty paper.
SPMI�s mill is one of the two milling companies in Eastern Leyte, the other is Pulp Specialty Philippines Inc., an affiliate of IPPC.
The Leyte-Samar region is presently the Philippines� biggest abaca producing region with an output of 26,322 MT as of 2004 or 36 percent of the country�s 72,900 MT production as yield here reaches to 1,500 MT per hectare. While Bicol has the biggest abaca area, it is only second biggest producing province with a 21,949 MT output in 2004 as Bicol farmers cannot use tall varieties because it is a typhoon belt. The small varieties give a yield of only 400 to 450 MT per hectare.
The Philippines� abaca export earnings totals to about $80 million yearly. On top of the export, this fiber is used locally by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) for the Philippine currency.
Through Monetary Board Resolution 578, abaca was officially approved for use as 20 percent of the raw material for making P20, P50, P200, P500, P1,000, and P2,000 peso bills.
"The integration of 20 percent abaca pulp and 80 percent cotton blend in our banknote paper has, according to BSP, greatly improved its durability and quality resulting in longer circulation life and better texture," FIDA said.
Abaca has also added security features to the peso as it has discouraged production of counterfeit currencies because of its unique strength and texture.
Ironically, FIDA said it was the Japanese Printing Bureau that initiated the use of abaca for currencies with a 30 percent abaca content in producing the Japanese yen banknote paper. BSP now needs about 300 MT of abaca pulp per year which is augmenting domestic use of abaca pulp.
The abaca pulp sector, FIDA said, is the biggest growth area in the abaca sector, using up an average of 62.8 percent of annual local production for the past 10 years.
With increasing demand in the world market, FIDA has set up an abaca expansion plan on an additional 50,390 hectares of abaca land up to 2010.
It is trying to improve farm productivity, yield, disease resistance in varieties, credit provision to farmers, and expansion of farms in non-traditional areas.
BSNS2005062637834.html
posted by GeorgeM at
12:12 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home