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Phinma to spend up to P700 million for cement terminal in Bataan


The Phinma group is planning to shell out as much as P700 million for a cement plant in Bataan, in line with the company's recent revival of its Union Cement brand.

According to Phinma Corporation president and CEO Ramon del Rosario, Jr., the company will purchase a cement plant in Mariveles, Bataan that is set to be operational by May 2019.

"It's a cement terminal, because we will be importing the cement. It will be in Mariveles, and it will be able to accommodate two million tons," he told GMA News Online on the sidelines of the ASEAN Forum on Enterprise for Society.

"Initially, that's what we will use and then we will distribute all over the Philippines. For now, we do not intend to go beyond that because there's a surplus of cement in Southeast Asia anyway and in Asia in general," he added.

According to del Rosario, the terminal will cost between P500 to P700 million funded internally, and will be the hub for large vessels coming from Vietnam.

"Mariveles is a deep sea port and we want to bring in very large vessels from Vietnam—it's called a Panamax vessel—which improves the efficiency and the cost per bag," he said.

"If we can accommodate these types of vessels, then our cost per bag will go down and therefore we will be able to benefit the consumer at the end of the day," he added.

In 2004, the Phinma group sold its majority interest in Union Cement Holdings Corporation, which became part of Holcim Philippines Inc.

Holcim, one of the leading cement producers in the country, has since dropped the Union Cement brand.

"In the meantime, we're already beginning to import. I think we already brought in the first four shipments two million bags," del Rosario said. — BM, GMA News

Tags: phinma, cement
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