PHL seaweed processor plans move to Indonesia, other local sites — official

The biggest seaweed processor and exporter in the Philippines will spend as much as P1.5 billion to bankroll a partial relocation of its operations to Indonesia as well as to Zamboanga and Carmen, Cebu. Shemberg Marketing Corp. will partially relocate its Mandaue plant, as Indonesia will ban the export of their raw material, cottonii seaweed, starting 2012. Noting the gradual decline in its Philippine production, company president Benson Dakay said the move to Indonesia is part of the company’s efforts “to be where the source is." Dakay said the company will relocate its kappa gel — a byproduct of seaweed processing — press plant to Makassar, Indonesia, a place rich in cottonii seaweed. Shemberg will also relocate its plant for semi-processed carrageenan to Maasin, Zamboanga, and its alcohol iota — another byproduct of seaweed processing — plant to Carmen, Cebu. To finance its relocation plans, Dakay said Shemberg Marketing will sell its 25-hectare property in Mandaue, Cebu. The 10,000 MT plant in Mandaue can process 7,000 MT of semi-processed carrageenan, 2,000 MT kappa gel press, and 1,000 MT fully refined alcohol iota. “We are talking to a number of buyers, mostly foreigners We hope to sell at P30,000 per square meter, which is the going rate for the Cebu reclamation area," Dakay said. Plant workers may apply for retirement or join the move to the new sites within the next two years, according to the Shemberg Marketing official. The Philippines remains the world’s top carrageenan exporter. A chunk or 30 percent of its semi-processed seaweed exports goes to China. Its second largest market is France (25 percent), followed by the United States (15 percent), Spain (10 percent), South Korea (6 percent), Denmark (4 percent), and Brazil (2 percent). Seaweed is one of the Philippines’ Top 10 exports. Carrageenan or semi-processed seaweed works as a gelling, thickening, or binding agent for processed food like ham, hotdogs, and jellies. It may also be used for animal-free soft gel capsules, biodegradable digestible films, and microbicides or compounds that are used to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. — PE/VS, GMA News