The Abaca Industry
PHILIPPINE ABACA INDUSTRY
History
Abaca, the country’s premier fiber and known worldwide as Manila hemp, has come a long way from its humble beginning as raw material for our ancestors’ coarse and stiff clothing as well as footwear. While abaca is still being used for these purposes, its application has expanded to sophisticated industrial uses. It is now a preferred material in the production of pulp for specialty papers like tea bags, meat/sausage casings, cigarette paper, filter papers, currency notes, stencil papers and a host of non-woven product applications.
With the growing concern worldwide for the preservation of the natural environment and conservation of forest resources, the importance of abaca in the industrial sector is envisioned to further heighten in the next decades.
Beginning of the Abaca Industry
The abaca plant is indigenous to the Philippines whose warm, wet climate and volcanic soils are particularly suited to its cultivation. It has been grown in the Philippines for centuries, long before the Spanish occupation. When Magellan and his companions arrived in Cebu in 1521, they noticed that the natives were wearing clothes made from the fiber of abaca plant, noting further that the weaving of the fiber was already widespread in the island.
Abaca in Cordage Use
It was, however, only much later that the commercial or export importance of abaca was discovered. According to historical accounts, an American lieutenant of the U.S. Navy brought a sample of abaca fiber to the United States in 1820. This gave the initial impetus to Philippine abaca trade with the United States that five years later, the first exportation of abaca was made. Since then, abaca became well known as one of the strongest materials for marine cordage because of its superior tensile strength and proven durability under water. With the onset of the 20th century, abaca fiber has become the premier export commodity of the Philippines.
Because of its
History
Abaca, the country’s premier fiber and known worldwide as Manila hemp, has come a long way from its humble beginning as raw material for our ancestors’ coarse and stiff clothing as well as footwear. While abaca is still being used for these purposes, its application has expanded to sophisticated industrial uses. It is now a preferred material in the production of pulp for specialty papers like tea bags, meat/sausage casings, cigarette paper, filter papers, currency notes, stencil papers and a host of non-woven product applications.
With the growing concern worldwide for the preservation of the natural environment and conservation of forest resources, the importance of abaca in the industrial sector is envisioned to further heighten in the next decades.
Beginning of the Abaca Industry
The abaca plant is indigenous to the Philippines whose warm, wet climate and volcanic soils are particularly suited to its cultivation. It has been grown in the Philippines for centuries, long before the Spanish occupation. When Magellan and his companions arrived in Cebu in 1521, they noticed that the natives were wearing clothes made from the fiber of abaca plant, noting further that the weaving of the fiber was already widespread in the island.
Abaca in Cordage Use
It was, however, only much later that the commercial or export importance of abaca was discovered. According to historical accounts, an American lieutenant of the U.S. Navy brought a sample of abaca fiber to the United States in 1820. This gave the initial impetus to Philippine abaca trade with the United States that five years later, the first exportation of abaca was made. Since then, abaca became well known as one of the strongest materials for marine cordage because of its superior tensile strength and proven durability under water. With the onset of the 20th century, abaca fiber has become the premier export commodity of the Philippines.
Because of its