Italy, RP sign steel deal

Italy, RP sign steel deal

MANILA (AFP): Italian steel manufacturer Danieli and Co. and the Philippines' F. Jacinto Group of Companies signed a US$600- million contract to set up a steel mill in the southern Philippines, a company statement said yesterday.

The agreement designates Danieli as "the main contractor for the supply, installation and commissioning of the complete state- of-the-art steel mill," the statement from Jacinto said.

The deal was signed on Monday in Rome by Jacinto executive vice-president Fernando Jacinto and Danieli group chairperson Cecilia Danieli, and was witnessed by government officials.

The steel mill will have a capacity of 1.2 million tonnes a year and will be set up in the province of Misamis Oriental, it added.

Danieli, considered one of the world's largest suppliers of steel plants and steel working equipment, will join the F. Jacinto Group as a major partner with equity in the project," the statement said.

The project is one of President Fidel Ramos' flagship projects, although it has "neither equity, loans nor guarantees from the Philippine government," it said.