SteelAsia plans additional $500 M investments

MANILA, Philippines – SteelAsia Manufacturing Corp. is looking to raise the bar of the Philippine steel industry with plans of investing about $500 million in the next five years for additional plants capable of producing new products.

In a press briefing yesterday, officials from the country’s largest steel manufacturer unveiled plans of putting up three new facilities that will enable the company to produce wire rod, plate and steel section.

“Currently, what we have in the country are all steel rebar manufacturing plants. All these three products (wire rod, plate, and steel section) are imported from other countries, mostly from China,” SteelAsia president Benjamin Yao said.

The wire rod facility will be constructed in Candelaria, Quezon. It will have a capacity of 600,000 tons a year and is estimated to cost $150 million.

A $200-million manufacturing facility for  steel sections and a separate plant of steel plates, meanwhile, will rise in Cagayan de Oro. The former will have a capacity of 600,000 tons a year while the latter will have 300,000 tons annually.

SteelAsia corporate development vice president Rafael Hildalgo said the facilities would help lessen the country’s dependence on imports, which for wire rod alone currently ranges between 700,000 to 800,000 tons a year.

Hidalgo said wire rods are used in a variety of products such as nuts and bolts, cables, wire mesh, wire ropes and springs, among others.

Steel sections and steel plates, meanwhile, are mostly used in the construction and shipbuilding sectors.

“The reason why we are laggards in the steel industry is because we are the only one that does not have local production of these three products. In other countries, they have everything,” Yao said.

“The beauty of our new projects is it helps the Philippines accelerate its industrialization. These facilities and its products will help industries, particularly manufacturing. They will also have a multiplier effect, especially in creating jobs,” Hidalgo added.

Aside from the three facilities that will produce new products, SteelAsia is also pursuing expansion of its rebar plants across the country.

SteelAsia is currently building a $150-million manufacturing plant in Plaridel, Bulacan and a $100-million facility in Cebu.

The completion of these two plants by 2019 is expected to double SteelAsia’s current capacity of 2.1 million tons.

“With these new rebar plants, we hope to address the needs of the country’s booming construction industry,” Hidalgo said.