Sunday, July 08, 2007 Mt. Province abaca fiber widens market
A TOTAL of 14.5 tons of abaca fiber produced by strippers in the municipality of Natonin from January to June this year were bought by two big companies at P35 per kilo regardless of class.
Benjamin Gayudan of the Department of Trade and Industry-Mt. Province said the abaca fiber were delivered to Jing B Corporation in Bulacan, the biggest abaca fiber buyer in the Philippines and to Manila Cordage Corporation, a new market for the Natonin abaca fiber which has committed to give an incentive of stripping knives to the producers.
Gayudan said aside from the two companies, there are also two more companies who have signified their interest to purchase local abaca fiber.
The Pacific Continental Company Inc. committed to give an incentive of electric stripping machine if the producers could provide the company with 20 tons of abaca fiber per month. The other is the Tan Abaca Buying Company.
Abaca fiber production is a potential industry in Natonin because the abaca plants are naturally grown but the return of investment is low because of high cost of production, said Gayudan. As its One Town, One Product (Otop), the abaca industry was revived and was managed by a cooperative last year. It is now under a new management with three investors who are from Natonin.
Gayudan explained that production of abaca fiber has increased because of the increase in the number of strippers. There are already 36 full time strippers, 28 of which came from Bicol and another eight part-time strippers producing abaca fiber. However, the investors are still faced with various problems in producing the market requirement.
The investors lack machineries. Stripping is still done manually. They also do not have a truck of their own to haul the product they buy so they are spending much for the transportation of the product from the harvest site to the companies, he added.
Freight of abaca fiber from the harvest site to Poblacion, Natonin cost P1 per kilo and from Natonin to Paracelis is P2 per kilo. The investors also spent P18,000 for the hiring of a truck that delivered the 14.5 tons of abaca fiber to Jing B and Manila Cordage Companies.
Gayudan added there is also a need to improve the quality of the abaca plants, especially in areas where these plants are very crowded resulting to thin plants so that the quality of fiber would also be improved to increase the income of rural families.
He said abaca is a promising industry. Price of abaca fiber varies according to its classification. The S2, classified as first class, is bought at P48 per kilo, the check class costs P35-39 per kilo and the M1 costs P28 – P32 per kilo.
Out of the abaca fiber produced, individuals who were trained on handicrafts are making bags, ropes, slippers, sinamay and special handmade papers which could be used as certificates and cards.
The DTI is helping in the marketing of their products. Some are also available at the Provincial Pasalubong Center for display.
In a related development, the Department of Agriculture would develop 50,390 hectares of abaca plantations by 2010 under a six-year program to prop up the Philippines’ status as the world’s no. 1 producer of this product.
DA Secretary Arthur Yap said under DA’s abaca expansion program which began in 2004, a total of 19,651 hectares have already been devoted to abaca while another 30,739 hectares would be planted in the next three years.
About 85 percent of the world’s abaca fiber supply comes from the Philippines while the remaining 15 percent comes from Ecuador, the only other commercial producer.
Abaca is used in the production of ropes and cordage, fibercrafts, textiles, teabags, sausage casings, cigarette paper, coffee filters, security documents and currency notes, and also as composites in the automotive industry.
From $71.45 million in 2001, earnings from abaca exports rose to $90.68 million in 2006. About 86% of total export revenues from this product come from processed abaca and the 14% balance from unprocessed abaca fiber.
The Philippines’ major markets include the United Kingdom, Japan, Indonesia, Germany, France and China for abaca fiber and pulp; and the United States, Singapore, Canada, Italy, Spain and Hong Kong for cordage and fiber crafts.
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