The Philippine Iron and Steel Institute found several hardware stores in the southern Luzon provinces of Laguna, Cavite, Batangas and Mindoro Occidental that are selling substandard reinforcing steel bars during a recent market monitoring operation.
The industry group submitted the findings of its “test buy” operations in southern Luzon to the Trade Department-Consumer Protection Group (DTI-CPG) and requested the government agency to conduct market monitoring and standards enforcement in these provinces.
“We have also recommended to the Bureau of Product Standards to conduct an immediate audit and issue show-cause order on the manufacturers that produced and sold the substandard rebars,” said PISI president Roberto Cola.
Pampanga-based induction furnace steelmaker Wan Chiong Steel in the PISI report had the most number of infraction with six hardware stores selling its mostly underweight or rebars with low elongation.
