Vila Pouca de Aguiar, 11 September 2024 (Diário de Trás-os-Montes) – Diário de Trás-os-Montes reported, based on the Lusa news agency, on the demonstration of new resin tapping methods using closed bags, which brought together resin tappers and companies in a pine forest in Tresminas, in the municipality of Vila Pouca de Aguiar.
Voices from the field
Rui Salgado, a resin tapping entrepreneur from Chaves who employs 11 people and extracts around 300 tonnes of resin a year, estimates that around 12% of the resin collected in current bags is lost to water or pine needles and considers the investment worthwhile. Teresa Magalhães, a forest sapper and resin tapper, stresses that the method reduces physical effort and produces cleaner resin.
A sector with room to grow
According to Marco Ribeiro, from Resipinus, resin tapping generates around 10 million euros a year in Portugal, with around 500 resin tappers working between 20 and 25 thousand hectares, in a country with around 600 thousand hectares of pine forest.
Originally published in Diário de Trás-os-Montes.