Import of second-hand intermediate frequency furnaces from China is prohibited

Foreign media Manila reported that some local Philippine steel makers have called on the authorities to ban the import of second-hand medium-frequency induction furnaces from China, because the steel produced by such steel-making equipment is of inferior quality and is highly prone to environmental pollution.

Since the ban on the use of induction furnaces in China in 2017, many of the knockout induction furnaces have been sold to local steel mills in Indonesia and the Philippines. Roberto Cola, president of the Philippine Iron and Steel Industry Association, said that in the past two years, the capacity of the induction furnace in the Philippines has doubled. Cola said in an interview with ANC's Market Edge column that the capacity of the Philippine induction furnace has increased dramatically from 150,000 tons/year to 45-500 million tons/year.

In addition to increasing pollution, induction furnaces can hardly reduce the impurity content during steelmaking, which will greatly affect the long-term stability of steel quality. These inferior steels are 20% cheaper than steels produced by electric arc furnaces. Cola believes that these steels produced from induction furnaces are not qualified if they are strictly implemented in accordance with relevant Philippine product standards and pollution control regulations. But Cola went on to say that the Philippines is lax in its implementation of relevant product standards and pollution control regulations. In Vietnam, these induction furnaces have been banned.

Cola is also the vice president of Steel Asia Manufacturing Corporation (Steel Asia Manufacturing Corporation). He said that he is very worried about the quality of the building steel bars produced by induction furnaces, because these blast furnaces are not designed for the production of building steel. We recommend disabling the use of these induction furnaces as they are not designed for the production of steel for construction.

Some steelmakers in Indonesia and the Philippines are also concerned that the inferior steel produced by individual illegal steel mills using induction furnaces will bring many safety hazards to earthquake and typhoon-prone countries.
At the same time, Cola also urged construction contractors to carefully check the quality of steel. He believes that no matter what process is used for inferior steel, if the contractor does not strictly control the quality, these unqualified steels may flow into the construction site.

Pre: Why Did US Steel’s Stock Price Decline By 50% In 2018

Next: Cost will increase support for steel prices