If no changes are made in the Natural Resin sector, it runs the risk of becoming residual in the near future. Professionals believe that this is the key moment to decide whether to make a serious bet on the sector or if everything continues as it is.
Professionals from the Natural Resin sector met this afternoon in a workshop of the RN21 Integrated Project, organized by CoLAB ForestWISE®, where concern for the future was expressed, and several measures to develop this area were pointed out.
In the 70s, Portugal became the world’s second-largest exporter of resin. Since then, this activity has registered a drastic decline, and there are currently about 500 resin workers in the country, according to Marco Ribeiro, president of Resipinus – Association of Resin Distillers and Explorers, one of the partners of this consortium.
This sector is struggling with several constraints, namely the fact that production costs are higher than revenue, the lack of forest management in the national territory, the disorderly growth of the pine forest, the average age of resin workers, which is 60 years old, and the lack of information on the number of resin hectares in Portugal.
With the RN21 Integrated Project, which brings together for the first time the entire value chain of the country’s Natural Resin sector, in an integrated and mobilizing research and innovation consortium where the modernization and revitalization of one of the most traditional sectors of the national economy is promoted, the conditions are created to leverage this sector.
“This is a key moment to decide what the future holds. Whether you want to bet on resin or not”, underlines Marco Ribeiro, president of Resipinus.
For the president of Resipinus, the way forward involves genetic improvement, training and professionalization of the resin worker, mechanization of the activity, creation of adapted stimulating pastes, use of closed containers, remuneration of positive externalities, traceability, certification, valorization of raw material, and implementation of a joint strategy.
Carlos Fonseca, Chief Technology Officer of CoLAB ForestWISE®, considers that the RN21 Integrated Project is a “unique opportunity” to make a transformation in the Natural Resin sector in Portugal.
“It is intended that Natural Resin will once again play a central role in the management of the territories”, he stresses, considering it necessary “for the sector to organize itself so that at the end of this process there is a resin cluster, which represents the sector and can continue this dynamic of the RN21 consortium and enhance everything that this project brings positive to the country”.
Natural Resin is used in the composition of various products, including paints, varnishes, chewing gum, hot glue, rubber, adhesive tapes, among others.
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