PISI warns vs substandard steel imports

The Philippine Iron and Steel Institute ( PISI) has warned the local property and construction industries of the possible presence of imported substandard steel products in the country.

PISI expressed its concern to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) after hearing reports on the recent crackdown by Chinese authorities on illegal steel mills which produce substandard steel products.

In a letter to Trade Undersecretary Teodoro Pascua, the steel group cited international news articles that have reported on the crackdown by Chinese authorities on steel plants, particularly in the province of Jiangsu.

“These illegal steel mills use induction furnaces and largely produce low-quality construction steel such as reinforcing steel bars or rebar, much of which is exported,” PISI said.

In light of these reports and in the interest of public safety, PISI urged DTI to sample and test all imported bars every 20 tons to ensure conformity to Philippine National Standards.

PISI noted that the local standards for steel bars are higher than those in China because the Philippines is prone to earthquakes and typhoons.

PISI’s investigations on the October 2013 earthquake in Cebu and Bohol revealed substandard and uncertified steel bars were used in the damaged buildings and infrastructure.

“The Philippines is located in an earthquake zone and typhoon area, so the best disaster prevention is to prevent sub-standard mandatory steel products from being sold in the market,” PISI said.

It said the local industry “welcomes stricter implementation of standards to be applied to both locally manufactured and imported steel products for the benefit of the Filipino consumer.”

The DTI’s Bureau of Philippine Standards last month withdrew the import commodity clearance for 20,000 tons of steel rebar imports by Mannage Resources Trading Corp.