The Philippine government, through a trade delegation to Europe led by Department of Trade and Industry secretary Alfredo Pascual, expressed keen interest to set up a pilot factory for coco peats, following a visit to the research & development center of the Van Der Knaap in the Netherlands.
“The Philippines is strategically located and our natural geographic resources are among the competitive advantages we can offer, particularly to investments in the agricultural area. Agriculture remains one of the key priorities of the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. as we aim to modernize and innovate agricultural processes in the country,” said Trade secretary Alfredo Pascual.
Van der Knaap Group is a 40-year family owned business supplying substrates and growing media for the worldwide professional horticulture. The company is widely known in processing cocopeat, a substrate raw material that is made from the husk of the coconut.
Pascual said that aside from the huge domestic market of the Philippines, its market also extends to more than 600 million people through the country’s free trade agreements.
The FTA with the European Free Trade Association member states of Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, and Liechtenstein provides the Philippines duty-free market access to all industrial and fisheries products to the member states.
Pascual offered the possibility of a partnership between Van der Knaap and the Philippine Coconut Authority, citing the Coconut Farmers’ Industry Roadmap 2021 to 2040 which identifies seven strategies to achieve the goal of creating a globally competitive coconut industry.