Chinese firm cautious on Phl steel investment
By Iris Gonzales (The Philippine Star)
Updated January 13, 2017 – 12:00am
http://www.philstar.com/business/2017/01/13/1662116/chinese-firm-cautious-phl-steel-investment
MANILA, Philippines – The Chinese partner of steel trader Mannage Resources Trading Corp. (MRTC), has expressed grave concern over the investment environment in the Philippines amid alleged trade obstacles and unfair treatment received by its local affiliate.
In a letter to Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua, Shanghai-based SIICGM Development (Hong Kong) Ltd. sought the Chinese envoy’s help in coordinating with the Philippine government to swiftly resolve all issues preventing the release of MRTC’s steel shipment from China.
The shipment of 20,000 metric tons of deformed steel bars – used for infrastructure projects like buildings and roads – are now held up inside its warehouse at the port of Subic following orders of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
This despite compliance with import rules and payment of more than P43 million in taxes, Chinese conglomerate SIICGM said in a letter to Zhao.
“We’re very worried and disappointed about the investment environment in the Philippines. SIICGM, as the pioneer enterprise of Chinese government’s The Belt and Road Policy, came to invest in the Philippines to meet the increasing construction material demands and we are willing to supply high quality and reasonable price construction materials.
But we encountered obstacles at the very initial stage. We ordered our Ambassador to coordinate with the Philippine government to remove obstacles for economic and trade exchanges between the two countries and create an equal and mutually beneficial trade environment,” the company said.
