Today, the Philippines still imports most of its steel needs, sapping the country’s dollars and surrendering employment opportunities to the other countries, according to the company.
“In the Philippines, we export our resources such as steel scrap and iron ore, then import back finished steel products. This is a tragedy because the value and the jobs are created in another country and, in the meantime, the Philippines is import-dependent. We need job creation here, and that’s what having our own steel industry does,” Yao said.
The Development Bank of the Philippines funded the project through a long-term loan agreement back in June of 2020 amounting to P5.7 billion. The company has been investing heavily in manufacturing plants to ramp up local capacity, as part of its goals to make the Philippines less dependent on imports of steel products.
Earlier in January, the company entered into an agreement with the world’s largest steel producer, China’s BaoSteel Group, to build a P108-billion integrated steel facility in a yet-to-be-disclosed location in the Philippines. INQSubscribe to our daily newsletter