The Science and Technology Ministry's National Innovation Agency (NIA) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) under which it plans to create an integrated complex of bioplastics industries in Thailand by the end of 2011.

The agency's partner in the agreement is Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), the German international cooperation agency for sustainable development.

The Science and Technology Ministry plans to seek Cabinet approval for a Bt2-billion budget to support its road map for a bioplastics industry.

At a ceremony yesterday for the signing of the MoU, Wantanee Chongkum, director of the NIA's Innovation Department, said global demand for bioplastics was growing rapidly, especially in the US, Europe and Japan.

Bioplastics are produced from plant materials, whereas conventional plastics are made from petrochemicals.

Wantanee said total bioplastics production capacity was just 500,000 tonnes a year, compared with total plastic production capacity of 200 million tonnes per year.

Most bioplastics in the US are made from corn flour, and prices are considerably higher than those for commodity plastics. Therefore, the NIA sees an opportunity for Thai industry to produce bioplastic compounds from tapioca starch, refined from cassava.

If the NIA succeeds in making bioplastic compounds from tapioca starch, it will boost the total value of the local plastics industry 20 per cent, she said. Moreover, the standard of living of Thai farmers' would be lifted, because cassava prices will be five times higher than at present.

She said an unnamed company was interested in joining the project and setting up a bioplastics plant in Thailand.

"In the future, the company plans to invest Bt1 billion to launch a pilot factory with a production capacity of 10,000 tonnes a year," she said.

Juergen Koch, director of GTZ's Thailand office, said the German government was supporting the project via its international cooperation agency with a budget of Bt15 million in the first two years for research and development in bioplastics technology.

It will create added value for Thailand's agricultural sector and boost local plastic manufacturers' competitiveness, he said.

Thai Bioplastics Society president Somsak Borrisuttanakul said plastic makers were paying more attention to bioplastics, because many countries, such as France, Italy and the US, had announced they would use only bioplastic packaging after 2010.

"If we [Thailand] have the technological know-how for a bioplastics industry, we will become one of the world's leading bioplastics manufacturers. We'll also have the advantage of lower production costs," he said.

He suggested the Board of Investment grant tax incentives for bioplastics production machinery and technologies, in order to encourage private-sector investment in the industry.

Sanguan Wongse Industries president Thosapol Tantiwong said Thailand was presently capable of producing 15 million tonnes to 25 million tonnes of cassava per year, depending on market demand.

If the government wants to increase that production capacity to, say, 30 million tonnes a year, it should guarantee a minimum price for cassava of Bt1.50 a kilogram, he said.

Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul

The Nation