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Monday, September 05, 2005
Shemberg needs coco shell supply for new boilers
LOCAL carrageenan (processed seaweed) manufacturer and exporter Shemberg Manufacturing Corp. (SMC) will need at least three million kilos of coconut shells or coal every month when it shifts to solid-fired boilers from bunker-fueled boilers by November to save on fuel costs.
“With a monthly requirement of three million kilos of coconut shells, we would only spend some P6 million,” said SMC president Benson Dakay in a phone interview last Saturday.
Coconut shells or coal would cost only around P2 per kilo.
Dakay is encouraging coconut shell suppliers nationwide to meet SMC’s demand for it.
Jobs
He added that there are local coconut shell and coal suppliers in Cebu who could take advantage of this economic development that would spur job creation.
SMC used to operate with bunker-fired boilers that initially billed P4 million per month for its consumption of one million liters or 5,000 barrels of bunker oil, he said.
However, with the increase in the cost of bunker oil, SMC spent as much as P20 million per month for the same amount of bunker oil consumed, he told Sun.Star Cebu.
Dakay said with the high cost of bunker oil, SMC incurred losses of P11 million per month because the company had allocated only up to P9 million for its monthly fuel expense, he said.
“So this shift from bunker fuel to coconut shell or coal-fired boilers would be more on preventing losses aside from helping our country combat the global oil crisis,” he added.
Second
SMC is the second largest player in the global carrageenan business with an annual capacity of 6,000 metric tons of semi-refined carrageenan and 2,000 metric tons of refined carrageenan, which goes to the United States and Europe.
It has seaweed-processing plants in Mandaue City, Carmen, Cebu and Zamboanga City. ALC
(September 5, 2005 issue)
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