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The Philippine Iron and Steel Institute (Pisi) has pledged to multiply trial purchasing operations to report that manufacturers and retailers are slipping into substandard steel by taking advantage of quarantine restrictions.
Joel T. Ronquillo, Pisi’s vice president of technical affairs, reported to the Department of Commerce and Industry (DTI) the sale of substandard rebar at hardware stores in Central Luzon. In addition, it alleged that the products were manufactured by Real Steel Corp. and Metrodragon Steel Corp., both known to use induction furnaces to make steel.
Pisi’s president, Ronald C. Magsajo, added that the group discovered in its purchase test the prevalence of unmarked rebar, whose manufacturers cannot be identified, traced and sanctioned in an emergency, such as the collapse of a structure.
Magsajo said Pisi will step up its trial buying operations to expose companies and retailers selling substandard steel to unsuspecting buyers. He also pledged that the group will work with DTI to enforce laws on product standards.
“Some manufacturers and traders are taking advantage of quarantine restrictions and [they are] take shortcuts that will ultimately harm the end user, “he said in a statement last week.
According to Pisi, the samples from the test purchases were sent to the Philippine Bureau of Standards. The agency then sent them to the Metals Industry Research and Development Center (MIRDC), Department of Science and Technology, for a quality and safety assessment.
Citing the MIRDC findings, Pisi argued that the dowel height and mass variation of the samples did not match what the government requires to ensure the integrity of a rebar.
Magsajo explained that selling substandard steel not only puts consumers at risk, but also misleads them in terms of value for money. For example, a low mass variation is like asking a buyer to pay for a 900-gram rebar for the price of 1 kilo, he explained.
Magsajo admitted that the market for building materials, including steel products, declined this year, as the quarantine slowed infrastructure activity from both the public and private sectors.
Manufacturers were left scrambling for what was left of demand, which some abuse by flooding the market with cheap but substandard steel, Pisi’s boss said. He added that most of the producers of these items are repeat offenders.
In June, Pisi presented MIRDC with samples of rebar purchased from stores in Central Luzon and manufactured by Valenzuela-based Real Steel and Bulacan-based Philippine Koktai Metal Inc..
According to Magsajo, MIRDC ruled that the samples lacked weight. As such, the steel bars may not support structures under stress, breaking the standards set by the government, he noted.
Real Steel, Metrodragon and Philippine Koktai use induction furnaces to make steel products, and for this reason Pisi has been calling on the government to penalize their operations.
The induction furnace is designed to make cast products and not construction steel. It does not have the ability to remove impurities from scrap, particularly phosphorous and sulfur, which embrittle output steel and expose it to crack injury.
In 2017, China banned the use of induction furnaces for steelmaking as it ruled that the equipment harms the environment and produces substandard rebar.
