CEBU CITY – The Seaweed Industry Association of the Philippines (SIAP) announced the arrival of four Cabinet officials from Indonesia, whose agenda is to study the prospects of the local seaweed processing industry.

The four Cabinet officials from the Indonesian government will be in the Philippines, particularly in Cebu from February 5 to 9, where SIAP president Benson Dakay said the visit aims to educate the Indonesian government on the high potentials of the Philippine seaweed industry, “and how big a market Indonesia is as a source of raw seaweed supply.”

The Indonesian officials will be toured to the Shemberg Biotech in Carmen, Cebu, Shemberg Manufacturing Corporation in Mandaue City, Cebu, and other seaweed processing plants.

Shemberg Manufacturing Corporation is the world’s largest manufacturer of carrageenan, which is a gelatin-like extract from seaweed used as a thickener, emulsifier, stabilizer.

“Hopefully, we can send out a message that the banning of exportation of seaweed in Indonesia will terribly affect the Philippine industry and the country’s economy as a whole,” Dakay said in an interview.

He cited that Shemberg, for instance, gets a bulk of their raw seaweed materials from Indonesia, or about 12,000 tons per year, considering that the volume of raw materials produced in the Philippines have been decreasing largely due to volatile weather conditions.

Last November, the Indonesian government announced it will restrict the export of raw seaweeds by 2012, but the Indonesian government head for Department of Science and Technology made a pronouncement that it is not good for their government to stop the raw seaweed export to the Philippines.