Chinese steel roofs fail ISO standards – study

MANILA, Philippines - Substandard GI and pre-painted steel sheets from China fail to meet the product standards set by International Standards Organization (ISO), according to tests conducted by the Philippine Metals Industry Research and Development Center (MIRDC),

The tests show that galvanized coatings for some of these Chinese products “are so low that they are not even half of the ISO standards which is being followed by most countries.”

Samples of Galvalume and GI products from China were found to have coating mass of only 27g/m2 and 66g/m2, way below the ISO level of 90g/m2 for Galvalume and 100g/m2 for GI sheets.

Enrique V. Chuidian, general manager of Puyat Steel Inc., said products with this low level coating tend to rust within two years.

Puyat Steel petitioned the government to impose a safeguard duty on Chinese GI and PPGI products to protect the local industry from unfair, subsidized competition from China and save the consumers from unnecessary expenses from the use of such cheap but poor quality Chinese steel roofings. The petition is still being reviewed bt the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). 

Other ASEAN countries and Australia have also filed either Safeguard or Anti-dumping petitions against Chinese steel roofing products. Indonesia has a 12.5-percent duty of Galvalume and has petitioned for Safeguard protection vs Chinese Aluminum Zinc Coated Steel, while Thailand imposed an anti-dumping duty of 26.22 percent on Chinese Zinc Alloy Coated Steel and 42.88 percent on Chinese PPGI products.

Malaysia has a 30-percent import duty on Galvalume and GI sheets while Australia has a 32-percent import duty on Chinese flat steel sheets.