A group of steel manufacturers asked the Trade Department to inspect the shipment of allegedly “deformed reinforcing steel bars” that arrived in the country on April 21.
The Philippine Iron and Steel Institute sent a letter asking the Port of Subic and the Trade Department’s Bureau of Product Standards to track the shipment.
“We ask of your assistance on this matter to ensure that these imported reinforcement steel bars are in conformity with Philippine National Standards and do not pose a threat to the security and safety of Filipino consumers,” the group said in the letter.
An intelligence group alert order issued by the Bureau of Customs showed some 5,000 metric tons of “deformed steel bars shipment” were being unloaded at the Port of Subic, according to PISI president Roberto Cola.
Physical and chemical testing should follow as soon as the BPS provincial office in Zambales arranged the product testing which was a protocol for any consumer product, whether manufactured locally or produced abroad, the group said.
Mandatory physical testing involves testing for every 20 tons of sampling for strength and any deformation.
Cola said his group received the alert from the Bureau of Customs on April 18 to 19 and immediately sought assistance from the Port of Subic and the government on April 21.
“We just want everything to be aboveboard. It is our concern to ensure that the steel product shipment from China is of standard quality and will not cause harm to consumers. We want to witness the product testing,” he said.
Deformed reinforced steel bars are commonly used as steel reinforcement in the construction of high-rise buildings.
PISI also called for the holding of the import entry of steel importer Mannage Resources Trading Corp. until the BPS conducted a complete inventory, thorough investigation and testing of physical, chemical and mechanical properties of the product to determine if the products conformed to PNC 49:2002.
Cola said there was currently a slight excess capacity of deformed steel bars locally, “but consumers were always looking for cheaper alternatives.”
“We are being cautious of steel shipments, especially those originating from China since we do not want a repeat of what happened during Typhoon Yolanda and other catastrophe that decimated the homes of people in affected areas,” he said.
