BOI OKs P323-M Cavite steel plant project

MANILA, Philippines — The Board of Investments (BOI) has approved the P322.7-million steel plant project of Portal Steels Inc. in Carmona, Cavite for tax incentives under the manufacturing activity of the Investment Priorities Plan.

Portal Steels will produce steel billets and rebars at an annual volume of 48,000 metric tons (MT) and 22,800 MT, respectively, with commercial operations slated to start in December.

The BOI said around half of the billet production is for commercial sale in support for other rolling mill operations inside and outside the country while the other half is for its own use intended for integrated rolling mill operations.

Production of rebars, meanwhile, is expected to cater to the domestic demand of the infrastructure industry.

“Steel companies stand to benefit in light of the government’s Build Build Build strategy to usher the country in the golden age of infrastructure with infrastructure spending of up to seven percent of the country’s gross domestic product,” BOI managing head Ceferino Rodolfo said.

Rodolfo said the BOI would continue to push for the revitalization of the country’s steel industry, seeing it as not only a critical component for infrastructure but also in achieving inclusive economic growth and sustainable development.

According to the BOI, Portal Steels is embarking on an iron and steel program that aims to primarily attain operational efficiency and achieve the least cost of production.

The firm’s project in Cavite, it said, will be using one of the most modern billet and rebars making technology available to the local industry, making the project capable of producing higher quality steel and more efficiency in terms of production output.

The BOI said raw materials such as scrap metals will all be sourced locally.

Steel billets are freshly made steel which is still in the form of a metal bar or rectangle, while reinforcing bar is a mesh of steel wires used as a tension device in reinforced concrete and reinforcement masonry structures to strengthen and hold the concrete in compression.