PISI asks DTI to address China steel dumping issue

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Iron and Steel Institute (PISI) has asked the Department of Trade Industry (DTI) to take immediate action in addressing cases of China dumping obsolete induction furnace facilities in the country.

In a letter sent to Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, PISI raised its concern over the recent development in the domestic steel industry in which obsolete induction furnace facilities are reportedly being moved from China to the Philippines to produce construction grade steel products.

PISI is echoing the concern of the ASEAN Iron and Steel Council (AISC) which earlier issued a “statement of concern over the moving of obsolete induction furnace facilities from China to ASEAN.”

The AISC discussed the concern during the ASEAN Senior Economic Officials Meeting in Singapore last January 24.

PISI said the Chinese government had previously banned these facilities from producing construction grade steel in January last year because these produce sub-standard quality steel products and are among the main sources of pollution in their host communities.

According to the group, the main problem of induction furnace facilities is the absence of a refining process to remove the harmful elements in the liquid steel.

“This results to the inconsistent quality of construction grade steel products manufactured from these facilities. The questionable quality poses a major safety hazard given that most of these products are reinforcing steel bars used in construction of buildings and infrastructures,” PISI said.

“The operation of these induction furnaces is likewise harmful to both workers and surrounding communities. These obsolete facilities generally do not have dust and gaseous emissions collecting equipment. Harmful gases and dust generated during the scrap melting process are allowed to be emitted directly to the environment,” it added.

Given these concerns, PISI urged DTI to prohibit the import of induction furnaces from China for the purpose of producing  construction grade steel products.

The group also asked the agency to ensure that induction furnace use are only permissible for specific purposes such as foundry industry that uses induction furnace as melting equipment to produce various types of cast products, in the production of ferroalloys with specific properties, and in stainless steel and high alloy steel production.