Non-oil industries demand attention

       Thailand and other developing nations should focus more on creating new nonoil dependent industries to combat diminishing global crude reserves and climate change, says a Japanese expert.
       The fuel, plastics, food, pharmaceutical and fertiliser industries can all use alternative fuels instead of oil, Hitomi Ohara from Kyoto Institute of Technology said yesterday.
       "It is very shocking that the world's known oils reserves are only sufficient for another 50 years. Reserves in nonOpec (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) countries including Japan would last for 27 years," he said at a Bangkok symposium on bioplastics and and bio-based materials.
       "Developing countries like Thailand should create new industries that use bio-based materials instead of petroleum to cut carbon emissions."
       Petroleum resources are finite and the supply of biomass is tightening; as such Thailand should step up efforts to better manage waste partly through recycling, said Prof Ohara.
       The local bioplastics industry shows promise amid mounting concerns over the state of the environment and diminishing natural resources, said Supachai Lorlowhakarn, director of the National Innovation Agency (NIA).
       Bioplastics are already being used in a broad range of products, including packaging, electronics and automobiles,he said.
       "Bio-based technology could provide solutions to a wide range of pertinent issues that nations are currently facing,"he said.
       "Evidently, emerging market opportunities for bioplastics and bio-based materials hold great promise for economic growth and development."
       Thailand has competitive advantages in bioplastics but Dr Supachai warned there were signs that international players would dominate the industry.
       Nature Works LLC of the United States,Netherlands-based Purac and two German companies are in different stages of investing in bioplastics in Thailand,he said.
       "Thailand's bioplastics industry is still in the early stages but it has comparative advantages in terms of abundant supplies of feedstock, a capable local plastics industry, and favourable government policies," he said.
       "There is a good potential for the industry to be firmly established in Thailand in the next two years but I am concerned that it would be in the hands of foreign companies."
       Thailand and Japan have signed cooperative agreements to develop local bioplastics, and Thailand aims to become a regional production hub.
       Under the five-year national roadmap,the government has allocated 1.8 billion baht to build up the industry through 2012, which has a target 5.5 billion baht in contributions to the economy by then.
       In Japan, bioplastics development is a part of the Strategic Technology Roadmap 2009 endorsed by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to formulate strategic planning and investment in research and development in 30 fields.