PHL expects stable abaca export to Japan despite quake, tsunami

Despite the damage caused by the March 11 killer quake and tsunami on Japan's economy, the Philippines expects its abaca exports there to remain stable, the Fiber Industry Development Authority (FIDA) said on Thursday. "A factory of a major Japanese buyer was affected by the earthquake. [But it has] a sister plants in other parts of Japan, so we expect no decline in the forms' purchases. In fact we assume that importation will be more robust considering that Japan is in the thick of rehabilitation efforts," said FIDA deputy administrator Josephine Regalado in an interview. Japan is one of the top destinations of Philippine abaca products. Government data showed that various abaca-product exports, such as pulp, cordage, and fiber reached $104.51 million in 2010, or 52 percent higher than $68.5 million in 2009. Value wise, abaca pulp topped all other abaca products the Philippines export to Japan, hitting $71.24 million last year, up by almost 69 percent from the $42.17 million in 2009. In terms of volume, shipments of abaca pulp went up by 76.3 percent to 20,879 metric tons (MT) in 2010, from 11,840 MT registered a year ago. The top two markets for abaca pulp were Germany and Japan. Abaca cordage shipment, the second top abaca-product export, reached $14.75 million in 2010. This is 31.5 percent higher than the $11.224 million in 2009. In terms of volume, shipments of abaca cordage in 2010 hit 6,947.4 MT, or 30.1 percent higher than the 5,340.9 MT a year ago. The major destinations of abaca cordage were the United States and Singapore. The value of raw fiber exports, meanwhile, reached $13.42 million last year. Compared to 2009, export receipts were higher by almost 37 percent. Abaca fiber exports in 2010 reached 10,242.6 MT, up by 38.5 percent from the shipments posted a year ago. Before the Japan earthquake and tsunami, FIDA administrator Cecilia Gloria Soriano projected that total export revenues from all abaca products could go up by three percent to $107.3 million. Abaca fiber exports were forecast to go up by more than 10 percent to 12,300 MT in 2011, while shipments of abaca pulp and cordage were projected to reach 22,000 MT and 7,700 MT, respectively. Aside from tea bags, abaca pulp is used to manufacture specialty paper products for coffee filters, meat and sausage casings, currency papers, cigarette papers, filters, high-tech capacitor papers and other disposables. Meanwhile, cordage, ropes and twines are used for oil well and gas drilling, for binding, tying and lassoing, building construction, fishing and shopping— LBG, GMA News