Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
consistent quality fibre and hurds at a competi-
tive price. While the technical attributes of both
hemp outer long bast fibre and inner short
fibre (hurds or shives) are considerable, some
end-use manufacturers are reluctant to develop
products that benefit from these attributes
because there is no guarantee of sufficient or
expanding supply or a competitive price.
For example, the current world price for
Grade 2 fibre (suitable for non-woven textiles),
set by European production, is 20% higher
than that for most other similar fibres. If the
price of Grade 2 hemp fibre was 20-25% less
than the current world price and a consistent
quality and supply assured, manufacturers
could focus their processing and product devel-
opment on the utilization of hemp fibres'
unique characteristics, resulting in increased
efficiency and further cost savings to the
manufacturer.
For every unit of demand for fibre, one
must grow, harvest, transport, process, store
and sell four units of hurd. In simple terms,
four-fifths (80%) of time, labour and energy is
expended on hurds. Therefore, it is crucial
that markets and products are developed to
utilize hurds, and at a level that is relative, in
volume, to the consumption of the outer long
fibre. The key to a successful industry is how
one manages and profits from the hurds and
not just the fibre.
There are many sectors in present farm to
finished product value chains that have both
inefficiency and waste. The following approach
is designed to reduce those inefficiencies but
maintain or increase the profit within each sec-
tor. Obviously, a company with the appropri-
ate technology will stand to benefit by
maintaining/increasing profits and increased
volume of production. This is where the great-
est opportunity exists.
Therefore, the aim of this section is to out-
line ways in which one might achieve a 25-30%
reduction in market price across the board,
increase supply chain profits and increase the
volume of supply to meet potential demand.
Areas capable of greater efficiencies
exist across the entire value chain; potential
targets are:
•
15% higher proportion of fibre to hurds
ratio in plant genetics
30% lower cost of production in harvest-
•
ing and handling to mill
25% lower cost of Stage 1 processing
•
'classification' of raw materials.
Before these four points are dealt with in detail,
some background into both hurd and fibre pri-
cing and production will be given.
6.3.2
Markets and pricing
The current world price for Grade 2 fibre
(suitable for non-woven textiles), set by
European production, is €600/t and for clean
dust-free hurds is €210/t (from the process-
ing factory). This price has been consistent for
several years.
The price for other fibres (flax, kenaf,
sisal, jute) used in similar applications fluctu-
ates significantly due to supply peaks and
troughs; however, in general, prices would be
similar to or 25% less than the price of Grade
2 hemp. Consequently, hemp makes up only
a small portion of the total supply and is
being blended with other fibres of different
(lower or same) quality and price to meet
existing demand, in the autoparts industry for
example.
Blended fibres are not necessarily desir-
able, due to a number of quality inconsisten-
cies, handling and preparation needs.
Blended fibre composites require more
weight of fibre in a product to make up for
those inconsistencies than if a single source
of fibre. The need for blending machines
and fluctuation of supply and quality from all
the fibre sources means that the products
and methods of production are more expen-
sive than if a single source of fibre was
available.
If the price of Grade 2 hemp fibre was
20-25% less than the current world price
(€480/t) and a consistent quality and supply
was assured, manufacturers would no longer
need to blend fibres to make a number of
products. They could then afford to focus
more of their processing and product devel-
opment on the utilization of hemp fibres'
unique characteristics, resulting in reduced
•
12% lower cost of raw material by achiev-
ing a 20% higher crop yield
