A member of the Metals Industry Research and Development Center (MIRDC), an attached agency of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), as well as a top official of the Philippine Iron Steel Institute (PISI), are calling the government to ban induction furnaces used to produce substandard quality steel products, such as deformed steel bars.

This was amid the threat of the so-called ‘The Big One,’ a massive earthquake with more than 7 in magnitude that could topple thousands of houses, bridges, and public and private buildings, among others, that is seen to hit the country any time that could claim more than 50,000 lives.

Induction furnaces are electrical furnaces in which heat is applied by induction heating of metal. Induction furnace capacities range from less than one kilogram to one hundred tons and are used to melt iron and steel, copper, aluminum, and precious metals.

During a forum in Malate, Manila on Wednesday, Roberto Cola, a member of the DOST-MIRDC, which directly supports the metals and engineering industry with services designed to enhance its competitive advantage, revealed that since 2002, the Chinese government already raised its concern over the existence of induction furnaces being used to produce substandard steel products.

He said that in 2016, the total output of induction furnaces was estimated at around 50 million metric tons of construction-grade steel, mainly reinforcing steel bars.

“The main drawback of induction furnace facilities is that there is no process of removing the harmful elements in the liquid steel thus resulting in inconsistent quality of products produced. This results in a safety hazard since these steel products are used in the construction of buildings and infrastructure. The operation of these induction furnaces also harms their workers and surrounding communities since they generally do not have dust and emissions-collecting equipment. Harmful gases and dust generated during scrap melting are just allowed to be emitted directly into the environment,” he explained.

Further, he said that in January 2017, the Chinese government issued a policy statement banning induction furnace facilities for the production of construction-grade steel.

The Chinese government then proceeded to enforce the policy and the entire induction furnace facilities producing steel products were completely closed down in June 2017.

“Just as in the case of finished steel products, ASEAN became the preferred destination for the export of these obsolete and unwanted induction furnaces from China. For the Philippines, induction furnace steelmaking capacity increased from 366,000 metric tons per year in 2017 to around 3 million metric tons today. These facilities are the main source of substandard reinforcing steel bars and angle bars in the market,” according to Cola.

He said that these manufacturers of induction furnaces are now scattered in the Philippines, continuously making substandard steels sold in various hardware stores, specifically in the provinces.

No policy yet

For the side of the Department of Trade and Industry, John Steven Magboo, Senior Trade-Industry Development Specialist of the DTI Bureau of Philippine Standards (DTI-BPS), to date, there is no policy to ban the use of induction furnaces.

“But we continue to check the licenses of the manufacturing firm that uses induction furnaces, we found some manufacturers (actually) fail the testing. The DTI hasn’t released any policy on the prohibition of the use of induction furnaces for the manufacturing of deformed steel bars,” he said.

DTI-BPS, which serves as the National Standards Body of the Philippines, established on June 1964 through Republic Act 4109, also known as the Standards Law, has the mandate to develop, promulgate, and implement standards and promote standardization activities and ensures the manufacture, production, and distribution of quality products.

“However, we are open to discussion from the private sector to have a supplementary adjustment on our current standards. For now, we still provide PS licenses to firms that produce deformed steel bars. But during our audit, these manufacturers remain in conformity with the current standards,” he stressed.

Currently, no law or Department Administrative Order has been released by the DTI to prevent the use of induction furnaces, even though its use is already banned in China, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Thailand, among other countries.

“We are decades behind China and Japan. So why are we still pushing outdated processes to be used in producing products with detrimental applications?” Cola asked.

For his part, PISI president Ronald Magsajo noted that upon talking with counterparts with the ASEAN Region, he said there are already talks to either prevent or ban the use of the induction furnaces.

“Developed countries are not anymore using induction furnaces, only the backyard industry or those with the mentality of ‘pwede na yan,’ or those who produce substandard steel products. Some builders and developers of projects are indeed using substandard steel products. I believe the DTI can do something about our call to ban the use of induction furnaces to stop the proliferation of substandard steel products,” he said.

To date, 42 bona fide steel-making facilities are operating in the Philippines that produce deformed steel bars according to Magsajo, excluding those firms producing angle bars.

Last year, the PISI found substandard rebars in random test buys in Mindanao (hardware stores in Davao del Sur, Davao del Norte, Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Zamboanga del Norte, Samal Island, Cotabato City, Pagadian City and Iligan City) and Northern Luzon, enough to build more than 10,000 houses per month and putting at risk up to 30,000 people.

For the DTI-BPS’ various raids last year, Magboo said they had already destroyed 1,893 pieces of substandard deformed steel bars amounting to P4.19 million, and 13,913 pieces of rerolled steel bars at around P800,000.

Meanwhile, Office of Civil Defense Undersecretary Ariel Nepomuceno, who also a resource forum at the forum, echoed the sentiments of the two groups, calling all in the construction industry and families that are planning to construct houses not to patronize substandard steel products, especially since the Philippines lies beneath fault lines that are prone to earthquakes.