Davao Region investments up 4%
Tuesday, 24 January 2012 00:00
THOUSANDS of tourists may have found the exotic attractions of the Davao Region entertaining, but officials of the Department of Trade and industry (DTI) here said the region was more than just "fun" in 2011. DTI regional director Marizon Loreto said the region's P10,998.86-million investment for 2011 is four percent more than 2010's investments worth P9,950.94-million. "DTI did not only accomplish its 2011 export target by 167 percent but it also surpassed the export generated last year by 54 percent at 53.93 million dollars," she said. Loreto said even the 34,221 Jobs created in the region is up by 143 percent compared to 2010's Job generation performance of 12,977. A surefire winner for the export market is the region's coconut by-products, specifically coco shells, coco coir and coco peat.
Davao Oriental DTI provincial director Ma. Belenda Ambi said most of the region's P593- million investments for 2011, which was more than 60 percent of the reported investment in 2010, came from the coconut industry. "I would like to note that of the P4.158-million export sales of the province in the last fi ve years, 71.55 percent or P2.975- million was generated in 2011 alone," she said. Ambi also said around 88 percent or P2.613-million of last year's export sales is accounted for by coco coir, coco peat and geo-net products. Davao del Sur provincial director Engr. Edwin Banquerigo said the province has the most number of coco coir processing plants in the country, with a total of nine processing plants in all.
Banquerigo said P4.982.68- million worth of investment leads had been identified for the region last year and P35- million will come from coconut products. The other sectors included in the investment lead are housing, palm oil, convention center, agriculture, Hijo Resources and Energy. Demand for coco shell product is expected to increase with the full operationalization of CJ-Toyota Xylose Plant located in Barangay Darong, Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur this year. "The company generated more than 24 million dollars in export sales since it started its operation in 2010. It has also generated 1.5 million dollars worth of workers compensation for its 200 employees during that period," he said.
Banquerigo said with its full operationalization, the CJ-Toyota manufactures an industrial sweetener called Xylose which is an ingredient in toothpaste. It is one of the sweetener's main ingredients coming from coco shell. It will require up to 450 metric tons of coco shell and expected to export up to 12,000 metric tons of Xylose a year. Davao Region's coconut industry is expected to surge this year after years of wallowing in the low income generated from charcoal-making and copra production. The 1st national Coco Coir Summit last year made sure that the coconut farmers are made aware of the emerging industry trends to encourage farmers to look into the coco coir and coco peat industries as their target market. "If DTI's projected increase in the demand for coconut byproducts like coco shell, coco peat and coco coir this year will come true, and then coconut farmers should brace themselves for a more competitive coconut industry," Ambi said. PNA
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