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THE
country will now have to wait longer to realize its
dream to have a fully-integrated steel industry as
Global Steel Philippines Inc. (GSPI) opted to prioritize
its plan to go into downstream operations like
corrugation and Galvalume production before proceeding
its $1.6-billion backward integration program
Lalit
Kumar Sehgal, GSPI managing director, told reporters
that this strategy will ensure that its $1.6-billion
future investment will not fail.
“We do
not want to settle with half-processing only, the
end-processing should be 100-percent complete before we
proceed with backward integration,” Sehgal told
reporters after the opening of GSPI’s steel plate mill
in the company’s Iligan plant Friday.
At
present, the company is producing hot-rolled coils,
hot-rolled plates and cold-rolled coils (fullhard and
annealed) with total annual capacity of over two million
metric tons. The steel plates mill will initially
produce 20,000 metric tons per month.
From
January to June 2008, the company’s sales increased by
27 percent to $143.7 million or 183,211 MT from only
144,000 MT and $96.5 million in the same period last
year. The company, which is exporting 70 percent of its
output, has ambitious plans to ramp up sales volume to
over 400,000 MT for 2008.
The
company will complete the rehabilitation of the steel
plant formerly owned by the state’s National Steel Corp.
within the year with the recommissioning of its tinning
line.
The
company announced earlier that it is putting up an
integrated steel plant in the Philippines with a
production capacity of 3.6 million tons per annum (TPA)
of slabs. This project will generate over 35,000 job
opportunities. The backward integration project
envisages facilities such as blast furnace 4.0 Million
TPA, Sinter plant of 4.6 Mil TPA, Coke oven battery of
1.6 Million TPA, Pig casting machine one million TPA
capacity and raw material-handling system, among
others.
Sangram
Mohanty, GSPI vice president and corporate
communications head, said the company is looking at the
“enabling platform” that will allow the smooth flow of
its backward integration thrust.
This, he
said, includes sound government policies, which is why
they are now meeting with various government agencies,
and the steady supply of raw materials.
The
company, Mohanty said, is going around the country to
identify possible mining sites where they could source
the right grade of iron ore, dolomite and limestone. He
said the company can mine on its own or partner with
another company.
“The
steel industry has to be pampered by the government if
you want to realize your dream for an integrated
industry,” he said.
Sehgal
complained of the high cost of power that they are
incurring at P4.70 per kilowatt-hour even if the plant
is very near the generation facility in the area.
With
this, the company is now looking at putting up its own
power plant or take over an existing plant. |
