Steep steel prices cut into cutlery makers’ pockets

Text and photos by Ephraim Aguilar
Inquirer Southern Luzon

TABACO CITY—CUTLERY MAKERS IN this city, who provide blood to an industry built by tradition, are bleeding profits due to skyrocketing prices of primary raw materials such coconut charcoal and hard steel.

For nearly a century now, blacksmiths in Barangay Cobo here have honed their craft to gain a reputation as the “best cutlery producers in the Bicol region and, probably, in the country.”

From its early days in 1919, cutlery-making is still very much alive in Barangay Cobo today.

One could hear the pounding and sharpening of steel in workshops adjacent to houses, where seasoned blacksmiths work at such speed and precision to be able to mass produce their products.

Emily Boncacas, 40, of Barangay Cobo has been in the cutlery business for 23 years now. She says her parents were her main influence in the business venture.

“I grew up seeing my father make scissors. It was our main livelihood. Through cutlery-making, he was able to send us to school,” says Boncacas.

Now married, Boncacas also put up her own cutlery shop. She has four workers who make scissors and grass cutters for her.

However determined to pursue this line of business, Boncacas says cutlery-making is being challenged by the country’s down economy.

She says the prices of raw materials have tremendously increased.

Steep prices

Hard steel from junk shops used to be P16 per kilogram during the 1990s but now, it ranges from P35 to P40 per kilo.

Coconut charcoal used to be P64 per sack but now it is worth P240 per sack.

Boncacas says gone are the glory days of their cutlery business.

“We could not just increase our prices because our buyers would run away,” says Boncacas.

She adds if they could only develop direct market links and even export, their industry might prosper again.

However, Boncacas says, they have no capital to be able to expand their production and to export.

She says cutlery-makers would now commonly rely on the “byahero,” a middleman who sells their products to other provinces in Southern Luzon, Visayas, and Metro Manila.

Russell Nieves, trade and industry development specialist of the Department of Trade and Industry in Albay, says cutlery makers should be able to tap the market directly.

Merchants vs producers

“Prices of cutlery are controlled by merchants. Cash and material advances are given by wholesalers to suppliers, thus, the latter are tied up and could not demand for higher prices,” Nieves says.

He adds that the wholesalers usually get a margin of between 30 and 50 percent, leaving manufacturers a small profit of 5 to 10 percent.

Nieves is the coordinator for the Tabaco cutlery under DTI’s One Town, One Product (Otop) program. Cutlery is Tabaco City’s town product and is celebrated annually through the city’s Tabak Festival.

“Tabak” is a native word meaning “bolo,” from which the city’s name was derived.

The Cobo blacksmiths or the Samahan ng Manggagawang Panday sa Tabaco Inc. (Samapat) is composed of 31 producers of handcrafted cutlery.

Nieves says the association’s monthly product capacity is 7,570 pairs of scissors, 4,980 bolos, 50 samurais, 10,560 knives, 100 pieces grass cutters, and 500 razors.

He says the industry association employs at least 144 workers and the asset size of every cutlery shop ranges from P20,000 to P400,000.

Nieves says the association produces the finest handcrafted cutlery in Bicol, but local producers need to learn product and market development.

He says there is a need for new ethnic designs for scabbards, a generic trademark or brand, fiber glass-based handles, and a common production center where products could be standardized and branded.

The city government has given P100,000 for raw materials and more than P400,000 for the construction of a common workshop facility. The association also plans to put up its own display center.

Edgardo Cedro, president of Samapat Inc. and owner of ABC cutlery, says one thing that keeps Tabaco’s priced industry alive is quality.

“Our local cutlery is better than imported ones, which are cheaper but are not durable,” says Cedro, who recounts cutlery-making was already a running tradition when he was born. The 48-year-old man believes he shall never see its demise.