National Biofuels Board (NBB) vice chairman and Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) administrator, Rafael Coscolluela, said that the Philippines will need to build eight bioethanol plants with an average capacity of 30 million liters/year inorder to meet the required 208 million liters of bioethanol for 2009 as defined in the country’s Biofuel Law.

In line with this, the NBB is encouraging foreign investors to come in an invest in the emerging biofuel industry of the Philippines. The biofuel law itself offers fiscal and other incentives to investors in the Biofuel Industry.
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Pacific Bio-Fields Holdings PLC of Japan has committed to a joint venture with local company, Bio-Energy NL Inc. (BENLINC), for a P3.5 Billion biodiesel processing plant that will churn out 24,000 tons of coconut methyl esthers (CME) a year.

Construction of the biodiesel processing plant is said to start by August and will be finished by December of this year. Both companies have already started planting coconut trees for the project in an 1,500-hectare forest located at Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte.
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PNOC-Alternative Fuels Corp. (PAFC) recently signed an agreement with the Ilog Diversified Multi-Purpose Cooperative and Katilingban Sang Katawhan Sa Katayoyon Nga Kauswagan Sa Kabankalan Inc.(5K) to establish a 1,000-hectare jatropha curcas plantation in Negros Occidental. Jatropha Curcas is a very hardy plant that grows easily on infertile ground and its seeds could be used to make biodiesel.
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Chemrez Technologies Inc., the country’s pioneering biodiesel manufacturer has announced cash dividends worth about P119 million for registered stockholders starting July 6,2009.

This is 32% of the company’s 2008 net income and is said to reflect the full year impact of ChemrezTech’s wholesale biodiesel market income after the passage of the Biofuels Act in 2007.
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Department of Agriculture Secretary, Arthur Yap, had offered over 1.5 Million hectares of forest management areas to some high level Saudi investors so that they can invest in agricultural projects in the country. Some of the possible projects mentioned was for palm oil, fruits and biofuel feedstock.

The Saudi delegation is led by Saudi Agriculture Minister Dr. Fahad Bal-Ghunaim. They were shown yesterday areas in Mindanao. Mindanao is known as an agricultural paradise because it is usually spared by the 20+ typhoons that visit the Philippines yearly. This doesn’t mean however that Mindanao is free from the effects of weather. Strong rains take the place of typhoons in some areas that result in landslides and soil erosion. While some areas in the south west are sparsely rained on.
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A circular passed earlier this year by the Department of Energy (DOE), which mandated the 2% biodiesel requirement hike in local fuel mixture is what Chemrez expects to be the driving force in their sales and production increase this year. However they are expecting competition to be stiff as more companies have already signed up at the DOE to be registered biofuel producers
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