TO recover from losses it incurred due to foreign exchange and bad weather conditions in the last six months of this year, one of the world’s largest suppliers of carrageenan has increased the prices of its products.
Shemberg Marketing Corp., producer of processed seaweed, increased its prices by 15 percent.
“Seaweed producers are losing more because of supply shortage in seaweeds (of the cotonii species) and continuous massive purchases made by Chinese traders on Philippine-produced seaweeds” Shemberg Marketing Corp. (Shemberg) president and chief executive officer Benson Dakay said.
He said prices of cotonii seaweed, which has the biggest demand among seaweed species, has increased from $600 per ton last year to $1,100 per ton at prevailing buying rate.
Last year, the country’s seaweed industry exported $165 million worth of carrageenan products abroad.
Chinese buyers
Dakay said Chinese seaweed processors are now considering the option to purchase big volumes of raw seaweeds in the Philippines.
This, after the Chinese government banned the importation of Indonesia-based seaweed in retribution to the Indonesian Government’s policy prohibiting the importation of Chinese-made toothpaste.
Dakay told Sun.Star Cebu that the increase will only offset some of the losses of the company, particularly those it incurred as a result of the strengthening of the peso against the dollar, which has made Philippine exports more expensive abroad.
“Tanan processors in the Philippines naglisod gyud,” he said, adding that the volatility of the peso is among the biggest contributor to the industry’s losses. (All seaweed processors are having a difficult time.)
Forex
Dakay, who is also president of the Seaweed Industry Association of the Philippines, said the increase in the value of the local currency from P55 to P46 to a dollar has incurred a 17-percent adjustment in the prices of exports.
External factors like global warming, which causes the temperature of the sea to rise, adversely affecting the growth of seaweeds, has brought about an industry “shakeout” in the first semester of 2007.
This has resulted in a 60 percent drop in the harvest of Philippine and Indonesia-grown seaweeds, Dakay said.
In connection with this, he said five seaweed processors- Dahon Dagat Inc., King Agro-Marine Products, Geltech Hayco Inc., Philippine Carrageenan and Natum Corp. - have decided to close shop.
Dakay earlier said internal and external problems hounding the seaweed processing industry in the country have led to the displacement of 10,000 to 20,000 factory workers of small and medium enterprises. (MMM)
