The country's largest steel producer SteelAsia Manufacturing Corp. is investing P30 billion to build a new facility in Candelaria, Quezon.

SteelAsia said the Candelaria plant will be an import substitute for heavy structural steel products, which are currently outsourced from neighboring countries.

The heavy sections plant will use the latest European steel technology to produce over 1 million tons of structural steel such as H beams, I beams, angles, channels, sheet piles, plates and other heavy profiles.

This will save the country $1.2 billion annually from importing these heavy steel products.

“We will create around 7,000 jobs instead of giving jobs to China, Vietnam, Thailand, Korea and Japan, our major suppliers," SteelAsia chairman and CEO Benjamin Yao said.

He said the plant will start commercial operation by 2027.

The project will also improve delivery lead times from three to four months to one to two weeks once the Candelaria plant go online.

"Our carbon footprint will also be 90 percent lower than the traditional steelmaking process because we use recycled scrap metal and employ electric arc furnace technology," Yao added.

SteelAsia also awarded this week the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction Management for the Candelaria plant to MCC Huatian Engineering & Technology Co., Ltd.

MCC Huatian is the global leader and most experienced engineering company in building steel plants, building over 230 steel plants with a total installed capacity of over 200 million tons in 14 countries.

“In steel manufacturing, we cannot compromise on technology and know-how because we are committed to producing the best steel products," Yao said.

STEEL ASIA PHOTO