Photo from SteelAsia-Meycauyan Works/WEBSITE
SteelAsia Manufacturing Corp., one of the largest manufacturers of steel products in the country, is planning a P65-billion expansion in the next two to four years to expand and diversify its product lineup.
Rafael Hidalgo, SteelAsia’s senior vice president for business development, told reporters that they want to increase local production of more steel products since the Philippines is still highly dependent on importing steel construction materials.
“With these, we will have 70 percent self-sufficiency in steel. I think we can say that we have a steel industry already [by then],” Hidalgo said on the sidelines of a tour of their P108-billion steel plant in Cebu, where reinforced steel bars are produced.
In particular, Hidalgo said they want to produce wide flange beams, sheet piles, wire rods, flat bars, channels, T-bars and lattice girders.
He added that their business expansion will also mean the creation of around 15,000 new direct and indirect jobs.
Last April, the Yao-led corporation secured an P8.3-billion loan from the Government Service Insurance System, the Development Bank of the Philippines and the Philippine Business Bank.
The loan completed the funding requirement for SteelAsia’s P18-billion steel section mill in the province of Batangas. This facility is expected to be fully commissioned by 2025.
The Batangas facility will be their seventh plant in the Philippines, as well as the second in the province.Of the other five, one is located in Bulacan, two in Cebu province, one in Misamis Oriental and another in Davao City.
Aside from the newest plant in Batangas, SteelAsia is also developing one each in the provinces of Tarlac and Quezon.