There is a fresh USD1 billion invest for the
Philippines that was signed during the Philippine-China Business Forum, a side
event of President Rodrigo Duterte’s visit to China.
SteelAsia Manufacturing Corporation, the country’s
largest steelmaker signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with China’s HBIS
Group Limited for the establishment of their first integrated iron and steel
facility in Lemery, Batangas.
Under
the MOU, SteelAsia and HBIS will invest around USD1 billion for phase one of
the Lemery plant.
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| An iron and steel facility (photo credit to owner) |
“As
DTI pursue a number of strategic projects, an important investment priority is
the establishment of the first-ever modern, environment-friendly integrated
steel mill project in the Philippines,” Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)
Secretary Ramon Lopez said.
“This
is pursuant to the vision of President Duterte to establish the first
integrated iron and steel plant during his term, which will allow the country
to produce basic iron and steel products, including flat products. These are
currently not being produced in the Philippines,” he said.
The investment agreement of the two corporation has
the intention to support the Philippines bid to be a major producer of high
quality and safe steel products by 2030.
DTI chief Ramon Lopez
noted another Chinese firm, Panhua Group, is interested to invest in integrated
steel making in the country.
“Our
bilateral relations with China is at a high level and is opening many business
opportunities between our two nations,” Lopez said.
Lopez
added since Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping have exchanged visits
starting 2016, China has been pushing for more investments into the Philippines
with their Belt and Road Initiative.
According
to Lopez, China is the country’s fourth (4th) largest source of
foreign direct investments (FDI) in 2018 amounting to USD198.7 million.
Prior
to the entry of the Duterte administration, the Asian giant was not even in the
top 10 of investors in the country, with
FDI from China in 2015 only reaching around USD500,000.
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Report from PNA
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