Chemrez Technologies Inc., the country’s top biodiesel, resins and oleochemicals producer, announced that its board of directors has approved the declaration of cash dividends worth a total of about P158.6 million.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Monday, ChemrezTech declared a regular cash dividend of six centavos (P0.06) per share and a special cash dividend of another six centavos (P0.06) per share.

The cash dividend, a total of 12 centavos (P0.12) per share is equivalent to 33 percent of the company’s net income of P474 million in 2009. All stockholders of record of ChemrezTech as of July 20, 2010 are entitled to the cash dividends.

“It is the policy of ChemrezTech to share the fruits of its operations with its shareholders. In line with this policy, ChemrezTech has consistently been paying dividends since 2001,” ChemrezTech said.

ChemrezTech said it was able to deliver a strong financial performance in 2009, despite an uncertain economic environment, with consolidated sales growing 10 percent and net income rising by 27 percent.

The firm said that it is expected that demand for biodiesel would significantly increase in light of the government’s plan to further increase biodiesel content of vehicle fuel and move from the B2 blend (2 percent Coco-biodiesel in Diesel) to a B5 blend.

B2 was implemented starting February 2009 and contributed significantly to the 22 percent growth in ChemrezTech’s oleochemical sales. B3 is expected to be mandated before the end of the year.

Coco-biodiesel and other oleochemical specialties will continue to be the largest operating business of the ChemrezTech in 2010, contributing the majority of the Company’s revenues.

However, it is expected that the biofuel business will experience tough competition. To lessen the impact of aggressive pricing, ChemrezTech continues to reduce production costs while increasing efficiency.

As biodiesel is the lowest value application for coco-menthyl ester, ChemrezTech is in the process of developing and eventually marketing more value-added downstream products.