STEELASIA Manufacturing Corp. said it plans to invest P82 billion in constructing five new steel plants in the country to increase its annual output by 2.2 million metric tons.
The company aims to help address the Philippines’ reliance on imported steel by boosting local production, SteelAsia said in a statement on Wednesday.
The planned projects include the P18-billion facility in Lemery, Batangas; the P30-billion plant in Candelaria, Quezon; the P8-billion plant in Davao; and two plants in Concepcion, Tarlac, worth P26 billion.
The first three plants are expected to be completed by 2026, while the two plants in Tarlac are projected for completion the following year.
“We are building the mother industry for manufacturing. We are way behind our neighbors, but we will catch up,” said SteelAsia Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Benjamin Yao.
“And as we do so, our mills and steel products will create new manufacturing industries that will result in more jobs, higher-skilled workers, and economic growth, among others,” he added.
He noted that in 2022, the country spent over $3 billion on importing wire rods, billets, sections, and sheet piles — products that the new plants will produce.
“The steel produced by these new plants will be used in infrastructure, construction, and various downstream steel-intensive manufacturing industries,” he added.
SteelAsia currently operates six plants in Batangas, Bulacan, Davao, and Cebu, supplying over 70% of all rebar used in infrastructure, housing, power, industrial, and other business developments in the Philippines.
These six facilities have an annual finished steel capacity of three million metric tons.
Mr. Yao also said that expanding to more locations in the Philippines will help reduce transport costs, enabling the company to offer its products at consistent prices nationwide.
Two weeks ago, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. attended the inauguration of SteelAsia’s plant in Cebu, which is expected to have an annual capacity of one million tons of rebar.
During the inauguration, Mr. Marcos urged the Department of Trade and Industry to update the Philippine steel industry roadmap.
Last April, SteelAsia secured an P8.3-billion loan from the Government Service Insurance System, the Development Bank of the Philippines, and the Philippine Business Bank to support the completion of its plant in Lemery, Batangas.
The same project was endorsed for green lane treatment by the Board of Investment’s One-Stop Action Center for Strategic Investments. — Justine Irish D. Tabile
