Steel makers back crackdown on substandard products

Local steel manufacturers are supporting the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) crackdown on unsafe and substandard steel.

Trade Undersecretary Ruth Castelo recently announced that the agency would publish a list of hardware stores that sell substandard materials, as the DTI’s regional offices have doubled their pace.

In July alone, DTI Regions 1, 4-A, 6, Soccsksargen and NCR separately conducted store inspections in search of products without the Philippine National Standard certification marks.

“This is a welcome move by DTI. Steel products without PS certification and without a clearly embossed manufacturer’s name as registered with DTI’s Bureau of Product Standards (BPS) are usually below required specifications in terms of weight, strength and ductility hence, dangerous,” Philippine Iron and Steel Institute (PISI) president Roberto Cola said.

He emphasized that the sale of uncertified products is prohibited according to the Consumer Act of the Philippines, noting that there are civil and criminal penalties against entities that knowingly trade, transport and use substandard steel building materials.

“While some hardware store owners sell them because they are unaware of product standards, others do so because what is cheap and substandard sells faster. Either way, violators in the past have been caught and fined,” Cola said.

Earlier this year, DTI released a statement urging hardware stores to stop selling substandard steel bars produced by Wan Chiong Steel Corp., a Pampanga-based manufacturer.

The same company was issued a notice of violation by the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB) for the smoke and dust emitted by its induction furnace.

Cola said in January 2018, the ASEAN Iron and Steel Council stated its concern over induction furnaces that were banned in China and transferred to Southeast Asian countries. He added that in less than three years, these were found being installed in Metro Manila, Pampanga, Davao, Bukidnon and Misamis Oriental.

“They have become a threat to the well-being of the communities around them and to the people who are building homes,” Cola said.

Moreover, he expressed PISI’s support to DTI and offered to help in the crackdown of unsafe and substandard steel.

“DTI is doing its best within the regulatory and legal framework to temper substandard steel trade and usage in the Philippines and PISI is willing to lend them the technical assistance needed to put mandatory steel products in the market in check,”Cola said.

The PISI president said they are also willing to conduct information drives to hardware store owners who themselves might have been victimized by producers.