Harbour Industrial gets tax perks for P1.95-billion steel bar plant

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino firm Harbour Industrial Development Corp. will receive tax perks for its P1.95-billion investment on a steel bar manufacturing plant in Davao del Norte.

The Board of Investments (BOI) announced that Harbour applied for incentives as new producer of reinforced steel bars. The plant will have an annual capacity of 400,000 metric tons.

The application for BOI registration of Harbour Industrial Development Corp. covers the toll manufacturing of concrete reinforcing steel bars in Panabo City, Davao del Norte.

Harbour intends to start commercial operations in Jan. 2012 and will employ 218 people.

The Davao plant output is intended for the Mindanao market. The applicant firm is also considering to export around 10 to 20 percent of its output to Manado, the capital of the North Sulawesi province of Indonesia, in the future.

Demand for rebar in Mindanao estimated at 400,000 metric tons per year accounts for around a quarter of the country’s total demand for rebar of about 1.8 million MT per year.

As validated from the umbrella association for the local steel industry the Philippine Iron and Steel Institute (PISI), there is no rebar manufacturer in Davao since FerroSteel already ceased their operations. Currently, there is only one rebar manufacturer operating in Mindanao the Elegant Chemical Alloy Corp. with production capacity of only 60,000 MT per year.