SteelAsia expansion forging ahead, to invest P75B in more plants
SteelAsia Manufacturing Corp., the country’s flagship steel company, is investing around P75 billion to develop four more manufacturing facilities in different parts of the Philippines by 2028.
SteelAsia chief operating officer Rafael Hidalgo said the largest budget of P30 billion would be set aside for a facility in Candelaria, Quezon, while P20 billion would be used to build another plant in Lemery, Batangas.
The company will also allocate P17 billion for a facility that will rise in Concepcion, Tarlac, and another P8 billion for the manufacturing plant in Davao.
Upon the completion of these projects, Hidalgo said SteelAsia’s production capacity would nearly double to 4.8 million tons a year from the current 2.5 million tons.
“The steel industry in the Philippines still has a long way to go. There’s still more expansions [being planned], but what we’re working on right now is [the four manufacturing plants],” Hidalgo said.
“There’s an opportunity to integrate backwards and create green steel, which is the environmentally-friendly steel,” he told reporters.
Hidalgo said the four mills in the pipeline would generate around 18,000 direct and indirect jobs.
The Lemery plant, the first steel beam manufacturing plant in the Philippines, will be commissioned by the second quarter of 2026.
The Candelaria facility, which occupies a 32-hectare land area and could employ more than 1,500 workers, will be operational by the third quarter of 2027.
SteelAsia, meanwhile, will use the electric arc furnace technology in its existing facility in Davao that is designed to boost production without increasing its carbon footprint.
Green lane
SteelAsia recently secured green lane certification from the Board of Investments, thus expediting its permitting process.
Meanwhile, the Concepcion facility will produce heavily used reinforcement bars (rebar) and wire rods. It will be switched on by the second quarter of 2028.
As of date, SteelAsia has manufacturing facilities in Ciudad Industria in Bulacan, situated within the Calaca Industrial Seaport in Batangas, Davao Works in Bunawan District in Davao City and Compostela Works in Cebu.
SteelAsia provides more than half of the nationwide rebar needs. It also accounts for more than 80 percent of the Philippines’ steel bar market for infrastructure (high tensile steel).
