Steel Asia Manufacturing Corp., the country’s largest billet manufacturer, said it is on track to start commercial production at its section mills this year, according to SteelAsia Vice-President Vicky Arvind Mathur.
“Construction is already almost complete, some final touches are happening. This year we are going to start producing it in Lemery, Batangas,” said Mr. Mathur in a chance interview at the recent PASIA Logistics Summit. “So, the Philippines is going to produce for the first time in their history, their own sections.”
The Lemery plant is a rolling mill that will produce sections and angles for distribution to the domestic market, substituting imports.
By next year, he said, Steel Asia will commence construction of an electric arc steel furnace in Candelaria, Quezon, which will eventually use metal scrap from domestic sources. “When we have our electric arc furnace, everything will be built from scratch in the Philippines,” he said, expressing confidence that the electric furnace will be running also by next year.
Section mills
“So there are two sections mills that will be coming up,” he said. These are the mills in Lemery, Batangas, and Candelaria, Quezon.
It could be recalled that in April 2025, SteelAsia signed a landmark agreement with Danieli Co. Ltd., a global leader in metals technologies, to supply all the core equipment and technology for its PHP30-billion project: the Philippines’ first heavy steel sections mill in Candelaria, Quezon.
Along with SteelAsia’s other section mill under construction in Batangas, the Candelaria mill is expected to generate 7,000 jobs, both within the plant and across its supporting industries. More jobs are also expected as downstream pre-engineered building and fabrication industries develop as a result of the heavy section mill’s operations.
The construction of the Candelaria plant is expected to displace USD1.2 billion worth of steel imports annually.
The mill is a pioneering manufacturing facility in the Philippines and will enable the first local production of heavy beams, angles, channels, sheet piles, and narrow plates—all of which are currently 100 percent imported, mostly from China and Vietnam.
Sections are most suitable for seismic zones or typhoon belts such as the Philippines because of their tensile strength advantages over reinforced concrete.
Mr. Mathur said the two mills are complementary to each other. “It’s a complete set because without large sizes, small and medium is incomplete. It’s a complete one set, then only you can substitute for imports,” he pointed out.
The smaller plant will produce steel products for electric towers and columns used in warehouse construction, while the larger section mill will produce angles and channels.
The two plants, he said, signal the start of a self-sufficient supply of steel products in the Philippines.
Good economy
Mr. Mathur said the country’s growing domestic economy, driven by extensive construction activity, is expected to support SteelAsia’s expanded capacity and capabilities as it aims to displace imports. “We have such a good economy. We have such good people with huge potential. Of course our plan is 100 percent although right now it is hard to comment on the number because it is the first time for any company doing this in the country,” he said.
SteelAsia’s new mills will also empower downstream steel companies, which are currently completely dependent on imports. “When you depend on imports, you have to manage your forex, you have to manage geopolitical tensions. But when we will start making everything in-house, you don’t have to manage forex,” he added.
Moreover, the establishment of these section mills is expected to help counter the proliferation of inferior and substandard rebars. At this stage of major infrastructure development in the country, Mr. Mathur emphasized that ensuring the use of high-quality steel products is extremely important.
