SUBSTANDARD steel is prevalent in Southern Luzon, local steelmakers have claimed, and they want the government to conduct an immediate audit of hardwares in the region.
The Philippine Iron and Steel Institute (Pisi) said numerous hardware stores in Laguna, Cavite, Batangas and Mindoro Occidental are selling low-grade reinforcing steel bars. The alleged substandard products were discovered by Pisi in its recent market monitoring operations.
Pisi President Roberto M. Cola said the findings of the test buy operations are now with the Department of Trade and Industry’s Consumer Protection Group, and he expects no less than an immediate audit of the hardwares.
Pisi also asked the government to do its own market monitoring and standards enforcement checks in Southern Luzon. More than a dozen hardwares were named in the Pisi report as supposedly selling faulty rebars.
“We have also recommended to the Bureau of Product Standards to conduct an immediate audit and issue show-cause orders on the manufacturers that produced and sold the substandard rebars,” Cola said in a statement.
The Pisi report named Pampanga-based induction furnace maker Wan Chiong Steel Corp. as having the most number of violations, with six stores selling mostly underweight or with low elongation rebars. This was followed by CKU Steel Corp. with five stores allegedly carrying its underweight rebars.
The Pisi findings also accused Cathay Pacific Steel Corp.; Phil. Koktai Metal Inc.; Continental Steel Manufacturing Corp.; Metrodragon Steel Corp.; and Real Steel Manufacturing Corp. of selling substandard steel in Southern Luzon.
“We are concerned that substandard rebars are being openly sold in the provinces of Mindoro, Batangas, Laguna and Cavite. These steel products are used for construction of homes in these provinces—which are usually visited by typhoons, flash floods and, sometimes, earthquakes—and, thus, they need to use quality construction materials,” Cola said.
“The proliferation of substandard steel in these provinces poses grave danger to families living in these provinces,” he added.
On top of substandard rebars, the Pisi report named seven hardwares that allegedly break consumer protection laws, by selling 8mm rebars as 9mm rebars. Cola also said most of the low-grade steel up for sale in the domestic market were manufactured by steelmakers using induction furnace, which mostly originated from China.
Pisi has long appealed to the government to ban the entry of induction furnace from China, as these units were prohibited there for producing below-standard quality steel, as well as for causing pollution.
The Asean Iron and Steel Council last year called on their respective governments to act on the expected dumping of induction furnaces from China. The group argued that allowing the machinery to enter Southeast Asian countries could impact the development of the steel industry in the region.