CHARACTERISTICS

Samoa Fiber grows year round in a number of tropical/equatorial areas.

In particular there is a large amount of wild Samoa Fiber in the Peruvian Amazon basin. 

Accordingly the Company has worked with the Peruvian Government for the creation of a Growers Association as a mechanism to allow indigenous peoples to harvest wild Samoa Fiber and had received exclusive permission from the government for the use of Samoa Fiber in Peru for conversion to Bio Oil.

Gynerium sagittatum, which the Company refers to as  SamoaFiber , is a reed, a member of the grass (Poaceae ) family that grows naturally and abundantly along the banks of some rivers in Peru and other tropical and subtropical areas.

The plant spreads mainly via rhizomes (underground stems that send out roots and shoots from nodes ) and sprouts and re-sprouts from the rhizomes so the plant regenerates many times from the same root structure and replanting is necessary only at intervals of many years.

Gynerium sagittatum has been noted as a predominant growth in the Amazon Basin for hundreds of years where it has been used for building of houses, roofs, and spears and its leaves used for weaving hats.

In addition, the boiled root is used to treat impotence (ruhs.milwaukee.k12.wi.us/staff/anderson/MrAWebWorld2/Ethnobotany.html)  

Recent studies have sequenced proteins in SamoaFiber ( Sequences of the grass-specific insert in the chloroplast rpoC2 gene elucidate generic relationships of the Arundinoideae (Poaceae), Barker,N.P., Linder,H.P. and Harley,E.H., 1997). 

SamoaFiber germinates either from a rhizome or from a stolon that emerges from a “button” located on a node ring, which occurs at about 3-10 inch intervals along the length of the reed if left in close proximity to the soil.

It is likely that the stolon growth occurs in a dy season and creates a rhizome that “anchors “ the system during the period that the amazon floods over its banks.

Once germinated, the stem of the reed grows rapidly to a height of 30-40 feet.

As it grows, the diameter of the stem base quickly reaches a diameter of about 1-2 inches, a diameter that is maintained along its entire length as it grows.

A node ring is formed at 6-12 inch intervals.  At each node ring, a leaf is formed which initially wraps the central cane and then, when at or near the next higher node, the leaf splits, separates from the central cane and ultimately forms a long, narrow, pointed leaf.

Eventually, when the plant has matured, it “tops out” and produces a crown of long, narrow, pointed leaves.

When mature, most of the cane, from the soil to near the top, forms a woody structure with a wall, which is ¼ to 1/3 inch thick.

Initially, at each ring, there is a thin, 1/16 to 1/18 inch thick, membrane that separates the interior of the cane into separate compartments.  Clumps or groups of parallel fibers about 1/16 inch diameter are connected to consecutive membranes and partially fill the chambers formed by the cane and the node membranes.

The seeds are sterile which makes it “non-invasive” when planted in plantations.

Spread is easily controlled by monitoring the plantation perimeters.

In addition, in the wild Samoa Fiber exhibits “self thinning” over time. (“ Shoot dynamics of the giant grass Gynerium sagittatum in Peruvian Amazon floodplains, a clonal plant that does show self-thinning “, de Kroon H. R. Kalliola, Oecologia 101: 124-131)

PLANTATIONS

Large plantations will be developed either with planting of stem pieces containing nodes or with seedlings produced by micro-cultivation techniques depending on size and relative labor costs. [The Company has undertaken experimentation to determine the optimal methods of propagation of SamoaFiber]

Further, unlike wild cane which is subject to alternate flooding and dry seasons, the optimal hydration strategies would be worked out depending of  the type of land .

 Based upon this work, the Company believes that it can expect yields are expected to be about 50 dry tons/hectare.

PULP AND PAPER

High productivity SamoaFiber substantially lowers fiber cost by producing more fiber per acre per year at a location much closer to the mill than is possible with any tree species.

The fiber quality compares to Eucalyptus while reject losses are virtually non-existent and chemical consumption is substantially reduced.

 As a low cost commodity grade, SamoaFiber pulp will have a high profit margin.

 Moreover, as a non-wood, non-forest fiber SamoaFiber can even demand a premium in some markets. After several successful production trials in a Kraft pulp mill, SFH has developed expertise to seamlessly integrate this exciting new fiber source with only slightly modified conventional pulping technology.

We have discovered that the cane can be chipped and can then be digested using the Kraft process to produce a pulp at about 50 percent yield based on the oven dry weight of the cane chips charged to the digester. This resulting pulp can be bleached to produce a bright, white pulp, which has properties that are similar to those of wood pulps made from hardwood tree species. The pulp can be used in place of hardwood pulp in the manufacture of a wide range of paper grades.

Pulps prepared from SamoaFiber using a variety of alternative pulping processes such as, but not limited to, grinding, chemical-mechanical grinding, soda, sulfite, neutral sulfite semi-chemical, magnetite, etc. have properties that are similar to those of hardwood pulps prepared by the same method.

The properties of pulp made from SamoaFiber chips using the Kraft process are compared with those of pulps made from a range of hardwood species

PULP AND PAPER WORLD MARKET OVERVIEW

Worldwide demands for chemical grade market pulp are currently at about 40,000,000 tons annually. Growth has averaged 2.9% annually over the last ten years and growth is expected to increase to about 3.5% annually according to the American Forest and Paper Association (AFPA).

North America 's share of world capacity is 42%, while its share of demand is 21%. Western Europe 's share of world capacity is 24% and its share of demand is 42%.

Biggest net exporters are Canada , Central Europe/Russia, and Latin America .

Biggest net importers are Western Europe , Japan and Asia/Africa.

Japan , Canada and the United States will show relatively little change in demand or capacity through 2005. The biggest increases in capacity will be in Latin America ( Brazil and Chile ). Because demand in Latin America is expected to grow slowly, this region will become a larger net exporter. Asia/Africa will become a larger net importer despite major capacity gains in the region.

In China the demand for paper is expected to grow from 40,000,000 tons annually in 2003 to 80,000,000 tons in 2015 or an annual growth rate of about 6%. Large pulp mills are planned based upon eucalyptus plantations under development. Land restrictions and costs will require importation of large amounts of market pulp. Most of this future pulp imports will be hardwood and softwood pulp from Chile and hardwood from Brazil .

Although the softwood share of world market pulp demand in 2000 was larger than that of hardwood, the hardwood share has grown faster over the last decade-at the expense of the unbleached sulfate and sulfite grades. In 1990, the hardwood share stood at about 37%, while the sulfite and unbleached sulfate shares were each about 7.5%. The softwood share in 1990 approximated 47.5%.

Finland , Sweden , Russia , and Chile together will account for about 70% of the worldwide growth in softwood market capacity between 2000 and 2005.

Recent capacity additions in Brazil and Indonesia have accounted for almost 90% of the worldwide growth in hardwood market pulp capacity between 2000 and 2005.

Future Indonesian growth will be curtailed because of wood supply issues in the tropical rain forest.

This leaves Latin America as the principal location for hardwood pulp capacity additions in the future