Philippines Handmade Paper

The Philippines has no verifiable historical data on handmade paper making. But it is believed that the craft existed as early as the Hispanic period.

In the Philippines, research on using indigenous materials for handmade paper was started in the late 1970s by Design Center Philippines and the Forest Products Research and Development Institute (FPRDI). In the mid-1980s FPRDI, the University of the Philippines at Los Baños, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), and the Asian Development Bank pooled their expertise and resources to encourage papermaking using rice straw as part of a ÒProsperity Through Rice Project.

Between 10-12 million tons of rice straw are generated in the country annually. These wastes which oftentimes are burned or left to rot in the field have been identified as a promising material for handmade paper. The FPRDI confirmed the suitability of rice straw for the production of high quality paper for special purposes e.g. art paper, greeting cards, novelty paper items, etc. Another government agency, the National Tobacco Administration (NTA) disclosed that tobacco stalks usually thrown away can be processed into high quality paper. The pulp yield from tobacco which is about 65% is higher than those of rice straw, cogon grass, banana and pineapple fiber and comparable with abaca fiber, the most commonly used fiber for handmade paper making.

Later several bast fibers were started to be used in the paper making process. The artistic use of bast fibers from abaca, salago, cogon and raffia made Philippine homemade paper unique, particularly in the paper crafts, Christmas decors, gifts and novelties. However, the paper's high cost crippled the industry because of expensive abaca pulp, chemicals and machines and inefficient mill processes.

Philippines Paper Industry
From 1995 to 1999, Philippine homemade paper was a sunrise industry with exports averaging 120.22 million dollars annually. Rough or chemi-mechanical processed paper made Filipino ingenuity a byword among international buyers.

The Handmade Paper Industry is highly export-oriented as evidenced by the 96% export share of the total sales in 1999, contributing 24% of the total handmade paper exports of the Philippines. Handmade papers and paper products from Philippines are been exported to the U.S., Australia, Europe, and Japan.

Today there are about more than 100 handmade paper manufacturers in Philippines. Among the more succesful is one in Los Banos, Laguna, managed by Fe Frialde. Frialde started in 1986 with five people working in one room.