Helsinki, Finland – The dream to manufacture the first ever Philippine utility and cargo truck tires has taken another step forward when one of Finland’s leading tire manufacturing consultancy groups agreed to undertake a technical and feasibility study of the proposed project in partnership with a Filipino rubber farmers association.
Straight from a 17-hour flight from Manila via Istanbul, Turkey, the Philippine delegation which I headed immediately proceeded to the City of Pirkalla, some two hours away from Helsinki, to meet with executives of the Black Donuts Corporation.
Joining the Philippine delegation are Maguindanao Governor Esmael Toto Mangudadatu, whose province is now aggressively promoting rubber farming and Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM) Director Angel Enriquez who will also visit the agro-forestry projects of Finland today and tomorrow.
Accompanied by Philippine Honorary Consul General to Finland Jukka Nyrola and members of the Philippine Embassy based in Oslo, Norway, the delegation was shown the tire designing and testing facilities of Black Donuts which serve the needs of the world’s top five tire companies.
Black Donuts was involved in the establishment of several tire factories all over the world for the world’s top tire manufacturers using very high standards.
Kai Taulava, president of Black Donuts, informed the Philippine delegation that his company is ready to conduct a study which would determine the feasibility of a tire factory in the Philippines including financial and technical studies.
It was agreed that the study would be conducted in coordination with the Philippine Rubber Farmers’ Association (PRFA), a farmers’ association which was recently formed with the assistance of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and is now registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) is expected to be done in Helsinki in November which would be timed with a planned Philippine Organics Expo to be sponsored by the DAF.
The Black Donuts executives also pledged to help explore sources of funding for the tire factory project.
As discussed during the first meeting between Black Donuts and the PRFA, the proposed tire factory which will use locally produced rubber products from the estimated 130,000 hectares of rubber farms in the Philippines will initially target to manufacture about 2-million car, pick-up and light cargo truck tires.
A different line to manufacture motorcycle and bicycle tires will also be established in the proposed manufacturing facility which is expected to employ about 800 Filipino engineers and workers.
The idea to establish a Filipino tire factory has long been my cherished dream because of the difficulties suffered by Filipino rubber farmers whose income from rubber production has always been dependent on the pricing of local buyers and processors.
The price of raw rubber called cup lumps has gone to as high as P100 per kilo when I was still Governor of North Cotabato to as low as P18 recently.
Today, the price hovers in the vicinity of P30 per kilo and the cup lumps are either processed into rubber cubes sent to Europe and China or exported in raw form to Malaysia where this is processed and sold as Malaysian rubber.
The establishment of the tire factory is expected to provide a ready market for the rubber produce of the farmers who will also be part owner of the corporation which is proposed to be named Pilipinas Agila Tires.
(Photos taken by Bong Piñol and Romirose Boloron show members of the Philippine delegation during the visit to the Black Donuts Corporation tire testing and designing facility in Pirkalla, Finland.)
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