SteelAsia Manufacturing Corp. has secured an P8.3-billion loan to complete its P18-biliion steel section mill in Lemery, Batangas.
SteelAsia signed last April 22 signed the loan agreement with the Government Service and Insurance System, Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and Philippine Business Bank (PBB)/
Leading the signing at the head office of GSIS in Pasay City was Arnulfo Veloso, GSIS president and general manager; Michael de Jesus, DBP president and; Rolando Avante, PBB president and chief executive officer (CEO).
Benjamin Yao, SteelAsia chairman and CEO, said the plant will be the Philippines’ first steel sections mill and will have a capacity of 1.1 million metric tons annually.
Yao said the facility will be fully commissioned in 2025 and will substitute the importation of steel sections products like H beams, I beams, and angle bars that are used for infrastructure like bridges, railways, high-rises, industrial buildings, telco towers and transmission towers.
The plan will employ 600 personnel.
The mill will be the company’s 7th plant, the others being rebar producers.
“This partnership aims to assist SteelAsia and the steel sector. Establishing a robust steel industry in the Philippines will facilitate cost-effective infrastructure development and create more job opportunities,” Veloso said at the signing ceremonies last week.
The multi-billion peso-steel mill project was granted a “green lane” endorsement by the One Stop Action Center for Strategic Investments. Under Executive Order No. 18, a green lane endorsement can expedite the processing and issuance of permits and licenses for projects identified as strategic investments.
Yao said with a robust local steel industry, construction costs would go down and create new manufacturing industries, along with tens of thousands of jobs.
As the Philippines’ flagship steel company, SteelAsia operates steelmaking, rebar manufacturing and rebar fabrication plants in Bulacan, Batangas, Cebu and Davao. In 2022, the company embarked on a five -year development plan to build the Philippine steel industry.
The Lemery Section Mill is the second in this pipeline. In October 2023, Stee lAsia commissioned operations of the world’s most modern rebar mill, a P 10-billion investment in Compostela Cebu.
