SteelAsia secures P8.3B funding for Batangas steel mill
The Yao-led SteelAsia Manufacturing Corp. has managed to secure an P8.3-billion loan from three local lenders last week, thus completing the funding requirement for its P18-billion steel section mill in the province of Batangas.
SteelAsia said the loan was granted by the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), Development Bank of the Philippines and the Philippine Business Bank on Monday of last week.
“Our plant in Lemery, Batangas, will be the Philippines’ first steel sections mill,” SteelAsia chair and CEO Benjamin Yao said in a joint statement, where he also thanked the government for its support to the local steel industry.
“It 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,” Yao added.
For his part, GSIS president and general manager Jose Arnulfo Veloso said that their investment strategy is fundamentally about nation-building.
“We invest in infrastructure projects that not only drive economic growth and ensure stability but also provide long-term sustainable returns. The SteelAsia plant is a prime example of such an investment,” Veloso said.
“By enhancing our country’s manufacturing capabilities, this project sets the stage for increased domestic production and economic resilience,” Veloso said. “It addresses our need to reduce dependency on imported steel, which in turn helps balance our trade and keeps more capital within the Philippines.”
Further, SteelAsia highlighted the significance of building up the Philippines steelmaking industry, noting that the country currently imports over 80 percent of its steel requirements.
Yao said they anticipate that with a robust local steel industry, construction costs would go down and create new manufacturing industries, along with tens of thousands of jobs.
This new steel mill in Lemery, Batangas, will be SteelAsia’s seventh plant in the Philippines, as well as its second in the province.
Of the other five, two are located in Bulacan, and one each in the cities of Cagayan de Oro, Davao, and Cebu.
