The Philippines' SteelAsia Manufacturing Corp. has resumed construction of a new steel plant at Lemery, Batangas, and is projecting a startup in 2023, the company said March 14.

          The Lemery plant, which will have a production capacity of 1.1 million mt/year, began construction in May 2019 but work was suspended in 2020 due to COVID-19 quarantine measures.

          The plant is expected to comprise two production lines, the first for steelmaking and the second for steel section rolling, using new generation scrap recycling mini-mill technology and consuming domestic scrap that may otherwise be exported to other countries.

          It will manufacture steel "products used in infrastructure and heavy construction including H/I beams, sheet piles, heavy angles and channels that are all currently being imported,” SteelAsia said, thereby reducing the Philippines' dependence on the import of steel sections.

          The plant is expected to be able to recycle about 800,000 mt/year of scrap for its electric arc furnace.

          SteelAsia is the Philippines' leading rebar maker with 2.3 million mt/year of production capacity, and is the largest local buyer of imported billets -- a semi-finished steel product that is transformed by rolling to obtain finished products such as wire rods, steel bars and sections.

          "Of course if it comes, then importation of billet will reduce. There’s a chance for scrap imports, but it all depends on [the] economy at that time. More employment for [the] local crowd," a Manila-based steel trader told S&P Global Platts.

          Lemery is also the location for SteelAsia's proposed joint venture with China's HBIS Group for an integrated iron and steel plant. Data from the South East Asia Iron & Steel Institute showed the plant with HBIS could bring 4.5 million mt/year of capacity online as early as 2023 but could now be delayed due to the coronavirus.

-- Clement Choo, Analyst Joy Zhuo