Trans-Asia abandons plan for biofuels business

Philippine-based Trans-Asia Renewable Energy, a unit of the oil and power development arm of the Phinma Group, said it had dropped plans to enter the biofuel business after encountering problems with planting the feedstock jatropha. Trans-Asia President Francisco Viray said that during the exploratory stage of cultivation, the company began to encounter problems with growing the crop, particularly with seed variety sourcing. “We planted two local varieties and some Indian variety seeds. We would have preferred to have the African variety planted, too. We noticed that the much-vaunted drought and disease resistance of the plant has to be qualified. Planting and first-year care of the plants need to be looked into further,” he said. (October 7, 2009)