The massive storms and floods that hit Manila and affected thousands of people in the Philippines have also shown their destructive impact on the steel mills in the country, with more and more mills declaring that they have been negatively affected by the situation. Many mills in the country such as Lunar Group, Cathay Pacific and Maxima Steel Mills Corp. cannot currently operate their rolling mills as they are still under the floodwaters.
The Filipino government has declared a "state of calamity" across the entire country and imposed price controls on basic commodities, including cement and steel bars. According to reports, the government, with the intention of avoiding a surge in rebar prices, has calculated an average local rebar price based on the numbers to date from January this year, thus obtaining a low average number compared to existing market levels.