The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in the Philippines has suspended the Philippine Standard licenses of six local manufacturers of steel bars. As a result, Maxima Steel Mills Corp., Henro Steel Corp., Cathay Metal Corp., Somico Steel Mill Corporation, Sagarthama Steel Trading Corporation and Meycauayan Bulacan Plant, owned by the largest steel producer in the country Steel Asia Manufacturing Corp., will need to improve their quality standards.
SteelAsia has already said that it is taking measures: “We are confident that our Meycauayan Mill 2 will be declared fully compliant by the Bureau of Product Standards shortly”. Sources said that suspension of the licences will lead to temporary production cuts.
“For the whole of 2019, the DTI penalized a total of 42 retailers and manufacturers of steel - a clear contrast to the claim of a product safety and quality group that the Department failed to charge violating steel manufacturers and traders for substandard steel products,” the official DTI statement said.