Aurora ecozone beckons to natural ingredients investors

MANILA, Philippines - Aurora Special Economic Zone – This fledgling economic zone, the first in the Pacific, is laying the foundation to jump-start the Aquino government’s plan to advance the $400-billion natural ingredients industry with the establishment of a 100-hectare agri techno and aqua park.

Malcolm Sarmiento, president of the Aurora Special Economic Zone (Apeco), said the ecozone is cashing in on the growing demand for natural ingredients in the world by opening up investments in the ecozone to join the biotechnology revolution.         

He said that aside from natural ingredients, the key industries for the development of the agri-aqua techno park are plant seeds and their products, fish breeding and aquaculture products and organic foods.   

Sarmiento said the ecozone could serve as core production area of locators in the natural ingredients industry.

Aside from the initial 100 hectares, an additional 108 hectares inside the campus of the Aurora State College of Technology have been allocated for possible expansion with a minimum of five hectares per locator.

In addition, Apeco is also eyeing the 12,000-hectare San Ildefonso peninsula as future site for natural ingredients.  

“The sky is the limit in the natural ingredients industry and Apeco could provide the missing link to the further growth of the industry in the Philippines. This could be the showcase where the main bulk of raw materials would come from,” he said.

Natural ingredients are derived from crops and plants that are indigenous to local soil and climatic conditions, and from plants that could be introduced and produced in substantial volumes. These crops and plants are easy to manage and require minimum inputs.   

It has been found that the three most important use of agricultural products in the natural ingredients industry are as food additives (natural color flavors, sweeteners, stabilizers and emulsifier), cosmetics (natural colors, vegetable oils, fats and waxes, essential oils, vegetable saps and extracts) and pharmaceuticals (medicinal and aromatic plants, vegetable alkaloids, herbal medicines and herbal supplements). 

Sarmiento said that based on research, the Philippines is recognized as the seventh most biologically diverse country in the world. With its rich biodiversity, it has gained international prominence as the source of medicinal plants such as banaba, saluyot, aloe vera, ampalaya and malunggay (moringa) and lagundi.

In the pharmaceutical sector alone, there are more than 300 medicinal plant species that are available in the country which have high demand in the United States, Europe, Japan, Korea and China.  

Sarmiento said essences used to be derived from synthetic materials, but lately there has been a marked shift to natural ingredients targeting cosmetics, perfumes and additives.

Sarmiento cited moringa which can produce oil in large quantities.

Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and France used to monopolize its production.

At the ecozone, Sarmiento said the natural ingredients plants they intend to grow include citronella, peppermint, rosemary, products from the citrus family and bamboo.

He said locators could take advantage of the ecozone’s location with its tri-modal access -- by sea through a ro-ro port with routes in Dingalan, Quezon and Palanan, an international seaport; by land through road networks, and by air through an airport with a 1.2-kilometer runway.

Citronella is one of three priority products identified by the Department of Agriculture to be developed under its three-year roadmap for the natural ingredients industry, the others are essential oil from annatto (atsuwete) and turmeric (luyang dilaw).

Sarmiento said that some big-name companies have expressed interest to invest in the production and processing of natural ingredients in the ecozone such as Sumitomo Corp., Unilever and Dalisay Farms Corp., all of which have signified intention to cash in on demands for sunflower oil, processed cucumber of up to 800 metric tons per year, ube for Selecta products and sambong and lagundi, a popular medicine for cough.

Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala had earlier expressed support for the natural ingredients industry which has been earning foreign exchange for the past decade using only the most basic manufacturing processes.

Alcala noted that the industry has reduced the imports of health and wellness products and expanded the market for domestic goods. However, it has been observed that the DA needs to expand the farms producing crops, plants and herbs noted for their natural ingredients.             

Sarmiento, a former director of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, said the priority given by Apeco for the set up of an agri techno park complements the Aquino administration’s premium on the natural ingredients sector.

The global market for natural ingredients is forecast to reach $18 billion next year.