Indonesian officials to inspect RP seaweed processing plants

CEBU, Philippines - In its fight to continually source raw seaweed supply from Indonesia, amid threats that the Indonesian government may ban the exportation of seaweed to the Philippines, the Seaweed Industry Association of the Philippines (SIAP) will host the visit of four cabinet officials from Indonesia next week.

“We have to show them our seaweed processing plants here. They will be toured to Shemberg Biotech in Carmen, and other plants so that they will see how big is the seaweed processing industry here, and that banning of exportation of seaweed to the Philippines will be terrible to the industry and the country’s economy,” said SIAP president Benson U. Dakay in an interview with The Freeman yesterday.

With this, the industry is hoping that the Indonesian government will consider its plan to ban the exportation of raw seaweed to the Philippines.

Earlier, the Indonesian government head for Department of Science and Technology has made a pronouncement that it is not good for their government to stop the raw seaweed export to the Philippines.

According to Dakay, the industry players here has to work very hard in order to continually source out raw seaweed supply from Indonesia, otherwise, the industry will be in danger of collapsing, as the local raw seaweed supply in the Philippines is dwindling.

“We hope we could convince them not to stop the seaweed export to the Philippines,” Dakay said.

The four cabinet officials from the Indonesia government will be in the Philippines, particularly in Cebu from February 5 to 9 (2010), to inspect the big seaweed processing plants here.

The Philippines seaweed processors need an average of 120,000 tons of raw seaweed a year. The country can only produce 60 thousand tons a year, thus seaweed processors are importing their raw seaweed requirement from Indonesia.

Now, that there is a proposal by the Indonesia government to ban the exportation of raw seaweed, Dakay said the Philippines has to respond immediately to caution the negative effect of this announcement by the Indonesian government.

The Philippines is still the number one supplier of processed seaweed in the world. This position is facing a danger, if the Philippines will continue to produce lesser raw seaweed, and processors can not import from Indonesia.

The seaweed business started in the Philippines in1977 in both raw seaweed export and processed exportation. Because of its profitability, other countries like Indonesia, and China have copied the technology started by the Philippines, by pirating Filipinos to teach them the rope in seaweed farming and processing.

Dakay described the 1977 to 1995 as “golden years” for the processed seaweed exports. As the Philippines was both the number one exporter of raw and processed seaweed in the world.

 “The whole world was eating Philippine-seaweed in these years. Top food makers like Nestle and Mars [chocolates] got their requirement from us,” he stressed.

Today, Dakay said “the Philippines has lost this business forever. Indonesia has now the pet-food market, which used to be dominated only by the Philippines.”