Panghua Group of China to help PH industrialization dream

THE People’s Republic of China would continue investing in the Philippines despite their diplomatic relations now at the lowest point under the Marcos administration.

This was the assurance of Chinese Ambassador HE Huang Xilian, with the imminent completion and expected operation this year of the Panghua Group’s fully integrated steel plant, the first in the country’s history, in Maasin, Sarangani Province.

Panghua is a private corporation based in Jiangshu Province, Eastern China.

It agreed to pour in $3.5 billion for the steel plant in 2018 under the Duterte administration with construction immediately commencing the following year.

The steel plant, to be built in three stages, is China’s biggest private investment the Marcos administration has surprisingly allowed to continue.

“This project is a landmark of our faith in the Philippines’ long-term prospects,” Ambassador Huang said.

A company statement said the plant can produce 10 million tons of various steel products, more than sufficient to meet the country’s annual steel products requirement.

It is also expected to generate up to 50,000 jobs in direct employment and thousands more in ancillary services. The plant is expected to be completed by next year.

Its operation would also start the Philippines becoming an industrial-based economy, an ambition that was quashed after President Fidel Ramos recklessly sold the National Steel Corporation (NSC) to Malaysian interests two years into his term.

Panghua said its plant would have both a “blast furnace” and a “basic oxygen furnace,” critical technologies needed to process raw iron ores into pig iron, steel billets and rolls.

The West refused to sell to these technologies to the Philippines thus frustrating NSC’s full integration.

Aside from the steel plant, Ambassador Huang said Chinese partnership and investment would continue in other areas, such as connectivity (telecom) and green technology, where China remains a global leader.