Only the union of the various agents in the country’s natural resin value chain, through a cluster, capable of having a voice with the State, promoting training and competitiveness, will guarantee the continuity of secular activities
It is necessary to unite to win. This was the main conclusion reached by many of the agents of the country’s natural resin value chain, who met on Monday at the Resin Building in Marinha Grande, where a workshop was taking place with several partners of the RN21 project.
At this event, Carlos Fonseca represented ForestWISE, the collaborative laboratory that leads the RN21 consortium. The project, which has 39 partners, including academia, associations, extraction, first and second processing companies, aims to modernize and make the production of natural resin more sustainable in Portugal, covering the entire value chain, from the forest to the final consumer, counting, for this purpose, with around 17 million incentives from the RRP.
Carlos Fonseca challenged the sector so that the RN21 project not only results in new products, but also culminates in the creation of a cluster that better represents the sector. It is necessary that the agents “organize themselves to continue this opportunity”, overcoming the problems that the sector has been experiencing.
Marco Ribeiro, president of the Association of Resin Distillers and Explorers (Resipinus), also considered that this is the “key moment” to act. Without a doubt that resin is an activity that contributes to environmental and social sustainability, the president of Resipinus regrets that it is no longer profitable.
And he pointed out reasons. Some stages are not productive; lack of forest management in the country; lack of manpower (there will be no more than 500 resin workers in the whole country, most of them on the verge of retirement); absence of a strategy with defined goals and indicators; lack of information about the reality of the sector (hectares exploited, productivity, etc.). In this context, Marco Ribeiro proposes paths: genetic improvement of trees; training and professionalization of the resin worker; remuneration for additional services (such as surveillance and fire protection); creation of stimulants adapted to the characteristics of the plots; closed resin collection
containers; traceability; valorization of raw materials and implementation of a joint strategy. He challenged the first and second industrialization industries to evaluate whether or not they are committed to the use of national resin.
Firmino Rocha, representing Kemi-Pine Rosins (second processing industry) also said he was “adept at creating a cluster”.
Finland, where farms are small but work in an integrated way, should be an example for Portugal, Armando Silvestre, from the University of Aveiro, also pointed out. Development of stimulants, optimization of processes, and investment in different markets, such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and animal feed, can be ways to promote the sector, which can use national raw materials, if they have them, he noted.
In the audience, Hilário Costa, former president of Resipinus, argued that the objectives of RN21 will only be achieved if the second processing industries buy Portuguese natural resin. João Mendes expressed an identical position. The manager questioned whether the second transformation, also integrated in the RN21, felt any ethical commitment to the Portuguese resin workers.
But both João Serrano, from Pino Pipe, and Firmino Rocha recalled that the prices of Portuguese natural resin are not competitive, especially when applied to increasingly standardized products.
Noting “tension” between several links in this value chain, Paulo Batista dos Santos, from CIMRL, preferred to recall the advantages achieved with the constitution of other clusters in this territory, such as molds or plastics.
There are only about 500 resin workers left in the whole country
Marinha Grande proposes a phased project of two million euros to rehabilitate Parque do Engenho
Approved 25 years ago, without having left the paper, Aurélio Ferreira has already made it known to the Government that he has projects for the implementation of the National Forest Museum, to be built in Parque do Engenho, for which funding will be needed. On the sidelines of Monday’s workshop, the mayor of Marinha Grande explained to our newspaper that, within Parque do Engenho, the Revive Nature Fund has enough space to create a hotel. The municipality presented to the fund two alternative projects for the future unit, which Revive will then put on the market. The remaining buildings available have a rehabilitation cost, and to recover the various properties and the outdoor area, the municipality needs, at an initial stage, two million euros. The best way to move the “elephant” forward is to “present it in slices”, he proposes, since the intervention as a whole will cost around 10 million euros, estimates the mayor. Aurélio Ferreira believes that it will be interesting if the resin sector moves forward with the Resin Academy, an investment of 350 euros, also in this park, which thus combines training and museology.
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