Tuesday, January 30, 2007 Use of abaca for car accessories making urged
CAMARINES Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte has urged local car manufacturers to integrate abaca fiber in their parts and accessories “to give more meaning to their pledge to use more locally-sourced raw materials” in their production.
Car makers in Europe, led by Daimler Chrysler AG, are already blending abaca fiber in a variety of parts and accessories, according to Villafuerte.
“The use of abaca fiber as a substitute for fiberglass in composites for the production of car interior and exterior components makes a lot of sense nowadays,” Villafuerte said, adding high oil prices are driving car makers to design lighter and more fuel efficient units.
Villafuerte addressed his appeal to the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. and the Motor Vehicle Parts Manufacturers Association of the Philippines Inc.
Blended
“For starters, we reckon local car makers can readily substitute their imported seat cover fabrics, interior carpeting and even dashboards with material made of, or blended with abaca fiber,” Villafuerte pointed out.
Daimler Chrysler’s Mercedes Car Group began using abaca fiber for the outer cover of the spare wheel compartment of its top-of-the-line passenger units years ago. The company has since developed other automotive uses for the fiber.
Sunrise
Villafuerte described the country’s abaca industry as “a sunrise enterprise,” with the vast potential commercial and industrial applications of the plant’s fiber still largely untapped.
Some 136,000 hectares nationwide are now planted to abaca, according to the Fiber Industry Development Authority (Fida).
Demand
Global demand for abaca has increased the local buying price of the plant’s fiber by 50 percent over the last five years, from P30 to P45 per kilo, according to Fida.
Villafuerte is author of House Resolution 354, urging Fida to quickly draw up “an aggressive and determined plan” to advance the abaca trade, which he said “faces an extremely bright future.”
Abaca is a species of banana native to the Philippines and cultivated in 26 provinces in Bicol, Eastern Visayas and Mindanao. (PR)
