SteelAsia investing P65 billion for new production facilities

MANILA, Philippines — SteelAsia Manufacturing Corp. is looking to invest around P65 billion to expand operations in the country through new production facilities in the next two to three years.

As the company is expanding operations, it is also in talks with potential investors in the company.

Rafael Hidalgo, senior vice president for business development at SteelAsia, told reporters the total project cost for the company’s expansion, excluding the plant being put up in Lemery in Batangas,  is around P65 billion.

The company is expanding operations through new plants being put up in Candelaria, Quezon and in Concepcion, Tarlac and a new production line in Davao.

For the facility in Lemery, SteelAsia said it has secured a loan worth P8.3 billion from the Government Service Insurance System, Development Bank of the Philippines and the Philippine Business Bank to support the completion of the plant.

“We already started the projects. And they will be producing in two to three years,” Hidalgo said.

The plan is to manufacture new products in the plants such as steel sections and wire rods.

At present, the company has six facilities in the country located in Bulacan, Batangas, Cebu and Davao producing rebars, with an annual rolling capacity of three million metric tons (MT)  and steel making capacity of 500,000 (MT).

Once the new facilities are operational, the company expects annual rolling capacity to increase to six million MT and steel making capacity to 2.75 million MT.

The country currently relies largely on imports for its steel requirements, with 86 percent of finished steel except rebars, sourced from other countries.

Hidalgo said the opening of the new plants would allow the country to be “70 percent self-sufficient, from local scrap to finished product to serve the local market.”

In terms of potential investors, he said SteelAsia is in talks with both foreign and local firms, which have approached the company.

But even without a new investor, he said the company would continue its expansion plans.