Abaca fiber and handicraft exports

(Part V)

While we are the biggest world producer of abaca fiber, we have been importing abaca fiber. Ecuador is one country that exports abaca fiber to the Philippines. One may ask: “Why – when we are supposed to have abundant supply of abaca fiber? Probably because the imported price of abaca fiber of Ecuador is very much cheaper than Philippine abaca fiber.

It is now time for PhilFIDA with the assistance of other government agencies and the private sector to come together and formulate an aggressive strategy for the survival of our abaca industry. Otherwise, other abaca fiber producing countries abroad will catch up withus. Lest we forget – we have already lost our dominance and supremacy in other products – like rice, tuna, buko, pineapple, and shrimps. We cannot afford to lose by default again our dominance in the abaca industry.

“The Philippine’s premier fiber has come a long way from its humble beginnings as a primary raw material for ropes and cordage. While to date the abaca is still being used for these purposes, its applications have expanded and improved tremendously going beyond simply for fiber crafts to the more sophisticated industrial uses. It is estimated that today, there are thousands of value-added products and uses of abaca. Aside from the traditional cordage application, the abaca fiber is now used as a material to produce furniture and fixtures, gifts and novelty items, decorative accessories, textiles, handicrafts, cosmetics, skin care products and other industrial products from toothbrushes, sausage casings, stencil papers, tissue papers, currency notes, grocery bags to automobile parts.” (Reference: 293-page Coffee colored book titled Abaca Philippines by Lalaine Villafuerte-Abonal)

One may ask: Who are the stakeholders in the Philippine abaca fiber industry? From PhilFIDA’s “Directory of Licensed Fiber Industry Stakeholders” - the stakeholders in our abaca fiber industry are the following: • Farmers • Traders • Exporters • Buying stations • Processors/manufacturers • Fiber grading and baling establishments

As in the rice and other industries, it is the traders who control the supply and the prices of abaca fiber. Obviously, the bulk of our abaca fiber produce will go to those sectors that pay the traders the best prices. Under the prevailing practice of the abaca fiber industry, definitely and unfortunately, the supply of abaca fiber needed by handicraft exporters is the last priority of the traders. What then is the remedy of the handicraft exporters under this set-up? I interviewed PhilFIDA Executive Director Kennedy Costales and he said: “We are trying to enlarge the number of cooperatives formed by the farmers so that prices of abaca fiber will not be dictated by the traders.” PhilFIDA Executive Director Costales said PhilFIDA’s main constraint to implement their project on cooperatives is the lack of funding. He is hoping that PhilFIDA’s request for supplemental budget will soon be approved and released to their Office.

To complement this laudable project of PhilFIDA Executive Director Costales, I strongly recommend that PhilFIDA through its mother agency (Department of Agriculture) prepare a draft of a proposed Presidential Executive Order whereby a certain percentage (say 3% to 5%) of our abaca fiber produce will exclusively be allocated and reserved for the promotion of our handicraft exports using abaca fiber as a raw material component.

During my stint as Undersecretary of Trade and Industry DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) from 1998 to 2005, our handicraft exports using abaca fiber as a raw material component was at its peak. Yes, one will be amazed at the creativity, innovativeness and skill of our Filipino designers. I have been religiously attending all the trade fairs sponsored by CITEM (Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions) to promote our exports.

Do you remember our exports of sinamay ribbonette of yesteryears? The sinamay ribbonette (in all colors and sizes) is used to wrap gifts. It was a big hit especially among Europeans. During my stint at the DTI, there was already a growing global concern for environmental protection and conservation. And during that time, there was already an appreciation and awareness of biodegradable materials (like the abaca) that were preferred over non-biodegradable ones such as plastic and other synthetic materials. Thus, the greater awareness around to shift back to environmental natural raw materials opened limitless opportunities for our abaca-based handicraft exports to other countries. Including the sinamay ribbonette.

I remember in one CITEM fair that I attended in the past years, a European buying agent was attracted by a mini baby carriage (made of abaca) display in one Bicolano booth. And to think that the baby carriage was placed in the last rack in the booth – as a last minute space filler of the Bicolano exporter-exhibitor. Thus, the item was placed in an inconspicuous space with no expectation that a foreign buyer will see and be interested to buy the item. Guess what? The unexpected happened. The foreign buyer immediately ordered one 40-footer full of that mini baby carriage made of abaca.

Today, the situation of the handicraft exports using abaca fiber is pathetic. One of the successful exporters of handicraft item using abaca is now an agent of a realty company. The others lost interest to export abaca-based handicraft items.

Something must be done to save our abaca-based handicraft exports.

Have a joyful day! (For comments/ reactions please send to Ms. Villafuerte’s email: villafuerte_nelly@yahoo.com).