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.