SteelAsia, HBIS Group sign $1-B mfg. pact

The Philippines aspires to build globally competitive integrated iron and steel (industry)

Plant output includes basic steel products as beams and rods for airports and other infrastructure.

During President Duterte’s recent visit to China, the steel firm SteelAsia Manufacturing Corp. signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China’s HBIS Group Co., Ltd., the fourth biggest steel firm in the world, to pursue the Philippine Iron and Steel Project with the construction of the country’s first integrated iron and steel facility in Lemery, Batangas.

To be constructed in two phases, the first phase will have a production capacity of around two million tons of iron and steel with a total investment of approximately $1 billion (P52 billion).

The project is poised to become one of China’s biggest investments in the Philippines meant to boost production of construction grade materials, providing direct employment for around 4,000 Filipinos.

Addressing delegates from both countries, President Duterte said at the Philippines-China Business Forum that he welcomes the agreement between SteelAsia and the HBIS Group to establish an integrated steel mill in the Philippines, saying the project is very important to the country.

New capacity from this plant will substitute imports as it will produce basic steel products such as billets, beams, hot rolled flat steel, and other structural sections which are used for infrastructures such as airports, power and telecommunication transmission towers, bridges, and ports, and reclamation projects. With this import substitution, the country will increase its self-reliance in steel and thus, contribute significantly to the country’s economic development.

President Duterte acknowledged at the forum the long-standing aspiration of the country to establish domestic integrated iron and steel making capabilities.

“The Philippines aspires to build globally competitive integrated iron and steel (industry),” he said.

SteelAsia chairman and CEO Benjamin Yao said that HBIS will bring in new technologies that will make steel manufacturing in the country cleaner, more efficient and productive.

“This kind of investment is what we need in the country, rather than those that make us a dumping ground of obsolete technologies that degrade the environment,” he pointed out.

SteelAsia is the country’s biggest rebar manufacturer and market leader, producing two million tons a year.