Bright future with abaca

There’s talk about a resurgence but the sad fact is our exports have not bounced back. The decline is not so steep as to cause panic and trigger a run, but it is certainly constant, always there, gnawing at an emasculated industry. We know the industry is ailing, and the fault lies not in our talented designers and artisans whose products slated for export keep improving every year. I know because we always cover events like the annual Manila F.A.M.E., the jewelry shows and furniture shows, etc. primarily geared towards the export market but now catering to the local market as well.

Time was when we could only gawk in awe at those wonderful furniture, lamps, etc. on display, but they were strictly for foreign buyers. The manufacturers were bound by contract not to duplicate the designs or sell on retail for local consumption. With the slump, local manufacturers have learned to tap the domestic market as well, and many have rediscovered that there is indeed much gold to be had here at home. Yes, many of our folks right here can afford these luxury home furnishings, and business is made much simpler with domestic sales, with no complications of F.O.B., customs declaration, freight costs, packing, transport, breakages, etc.

China has cornered much of the global market as far as manufacturing is concerned. It’s all a question of economy of scale, excellent infrastructure, and a global tolerance for a toothless intellectual property rights application. It is no secret that Filipino designers are much sought after, and this has been our handle in the export industry for quite a long time. When Chinese products were often dumped and lumped as “cheap” not only in price but in design and execution as well, Filipino designs were already getting rave reviews. But once a novel eye-catching design hits the shelves of trade fairs, these designs are immediately tweaked ever so slightly, and the products are mass-produced in no time, flooding Macy’s and other big department stores abroad quickly, pre-empting the designers who spent time and money on research and development. Intellectual property rights provisions are so stringent and exacting that many designers and manufacturers don’t bother with them. They just go back to their design tables and wrack their brains for new ideas and hope to beat the duplicators with perfect timing the next time around.

And, oh yes, now we heard that some manufacturers from China don’t bother pirating designs anymore. They pirate the Filipino designers, period.    

 Now, with cheaper man power (although this is already changing fast), better infrastructure and often pirated designs, our Chinese neighbors have rendered us uncompetitive, even when the designs were originally Filipino to start with. This lament is echoed by the Thais who are also getting competitive especially in the area of jewelry design. But how can you compete with mass production?

The Chinese have systematically studied their infrastructure which has a lot to do with their pricing schemes. Plotting your location is essential, taking into consideration all the sub-contracted work needed and the proximity of all other services necessary for the final distribution like shipping, etc. Here at home, we still have to refine this to a more efficient system. It’s all really just a keen sense of planning and astute management, but in big volumes, time and expenses saved translate to savings, or big profit.                  

When we checked on our Fiber Industry Development Authority (FIDA) recently, we learned that the industry is doing very well, their latest growth registered at 14 percent. Our export of abaca and its applications like cordage, pulp, etc. has been faring well. Abaca, we learned, is mostly produced in farms located in upper terrain, so the typhoons have largely spared these farms. Top abaca producers in the country are the Bicol region, Eastern Visayas and Mindanao, though they are actually grown everywhere in the country except in Northern Luzon. The recession has somehow slowed down abaca production to something like 57,000 metric tons sometime in 2009, but the industry has bounced back and in June this year, when total exports registered a decline of about five percent, the abaca exports increased by 51 percent. FIDA expects total earnings from abaca to reach $140 million by the end of the year, which is an all-time high for the industry. Blame it on the global clamor for all things natural and green.

This is the niche we could work on. The Philippines grows 85 percent of the total abaca needs of the global market, one of only two serious abaca- growing countries in the world. The other one is Ecuador, supplying the balance of 15 percent, but whose planting materials also come from the Philippines. This we gathered from FIDA OIC for Planning and Statistics, Mystic Pelayo.

At the FIDA office, Ms. Evelyn Dimayuga, OIC for Marketing showed us the many applications of abaca, like specialty paper, sausage casings, oil-blotting papers and tea bags. All of us are familiar with Lipton tea bags, but many of us don’t know the bags are made from abaca. Now, more and more products are coming out of the humble abaca, especially for hospital use. Hospital gowns, masks, and slippers made from abaca are now in demand. And did you know that the Philippine peso is 20 percent abaca while the Japanese yen is 60 percent abaca? We ourselves were surprised at this revelation of Ms. Evelyn.

Of course, abaca is much prized as cordage, desired for its strength and resilience by shipping companies and used for oil exploration, construction and agriculture.

Many of us know abaca only for its basic use like mats, native bags and furniture. We saw some big jars fashioned with abaca casings that looked fabulous, and these were mainly for export.

We hope FIDA can help strengthen our hold on the abaca export through better infrastructure for the abaca farmers. We understand from FIDA Administrator Cecilia Gloria Soriano that their Usapang Hibla with Sec. Proceso Alcala yielded positive results, stressing the need for enhanced mechanization (mechanical dryers, post-harvest machines, etc.) The agency has been active in training and livelihood programs for abaca farmers, developing technologies and even involving the farmers’ wives and residents of areas where abaca is grown.

As Administrator Soriano says, abaca is endemic and indigenous to the Philippines. It is the only truly Filipino product we have, so let’s make the most out of it.

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino.

For comments: (e-mail) [email protected]” [email protected]