A number of big companies have been tagged by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for producing and importing substandard steel.
The DTI in a statement yesterday said it suspended the Philippine Standard (PS) licenses of six steel manufacturers in 2019 for failing the independent testing commissioned by the DTI-Bureau of Philippine Standards (BPS) from the Metals Industry Research and Development Center (MIRDC).
The DTI identified these as Maxima Steel Mills Corp., Henro Steel Corp., Steel Asia Manufacturing Corp. — Meycauayan Bulacan Plant, Cathay Metal Corp., Somico Steel Mill Corp, and Sagarthama Steel Trading Corp.
The DTI also said the BPS denied the issuance of import commodity clearances (ICC) for deformed steel bars and equal leg angle bars imported by Megawide Construction Corp., Petron Corp. and Remington Industrial Sales Corp., approximately valued at over P68 million.
The DTI said the suspension order on the six manufacturers resulted from unannounced surveillance audits conducted by the BPS in 2019 on various steel manufacturing plants in the country.
The DTI said samples culled from these audits that were subjected to testing by the MIRDC proved these six steel manufacturers were not compliant with the standards indicated in Philippine National Standard (PNS) 49, Series of 2002. Until these steel manufacturers comply with the PNS, their PS licenses will remain suspended.
But Steel Asia said corrective measures were immediately put in place and the affected rebar lot were destroyed.
We are confident that our Meycauayan Mill 2 will be declared fully compliant by the Bureau of Product Standards shortly,” SteelAsia said.
The DTI said the deformed steel bars imported by Megawide were denied issuance of ICC due to non-compliance with PNS 49:2002 while those imported by Petron had no proper markings.
The DTI said Remington has no valid PS license for the importation of equal leg angle bars.
All these imported steel bars were either destroyed or exported to their country of origin.
It can also be recalled that in September 2019, Wan Chiong Steel Corp. was found to be manufacturing deformed steel bars that are not covered by the scope of their PS license.
After due process and filing of formal charge, the DTI-Fair Trade Enforcement Bureau (FTEB) issued a decision last November for said steel manufacturing company to pay administrative penalty amounting to P450,000.00. Earlier, the same steel manufacturer was suspended for five months for non-compliance with PNS 49.
Similarly, Dragon Asia Rolling Mills was also found to be manufacturing steel that are not covered by the scope of their PS license. Formal charge against the company has been filed by the FTEB and the case is now up for decision.
The DTI said it also penalized a total of 42 retailers and manufacturers of steel in 2019.