JAPANESE company Taiheiyo Cement Group will build a new P15-billion production line in Cebu to expand its local output capacity.
Its local subsidiary Taiheiyo Cement Philippines, Inc. will build the new production line and expand shipping bases to Luzon, Iloilo, and Davao, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said in a press release on Wednesday.
Taiheiyo will also install a two-kilometer marine belt conveyor and expand its Cebu port.
The company’s infrastructure expansion project was part of a letter of intent signed with the Trade department during President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s 2017 Tokyo visit.
The expansion will increase the company’s cement production capacity by 50% in the short term, and 150% in the medium term, the DTI said. The company plans to increase its Philippine market share to 10% from seven percent.
According to DTI, Taiheiyo’s executives based in Japan have reported that the expansion is underway.
“The project promises to adhere to green economy requirements via the introduction of energy-efficient operations, which will bring about a reduction by 10% of carbon dioxide emissions from energy use in clinker production from the old line’s energy efficiency rates,” DTI said.
Trade Undersecretary Ceferino S. Rodolfo said that the Board of Investments is reviewing the project’s new technologies, in case they are eligible for incentives.
The Philippines is the third-largest cement importer in the world, after the US and China, as it imported $543.9 million of the product in 2019. — Jenina P. Ibañez