Insider Spotlight
The country imports 70 percent of the high-grade finished steel needed for defense, National Security Adviser Eduardo Oban Jr. said, warning that interrupted supply lines could hurt military readiness.
“Our operational readiness will suffer if our supply lines are disrupted. Thus, our steel imports must not only be multi-sourced, but we must also strengthen our local steel industry to support the needs of our defense force,” Oban said in his opening remarks at the ASEAN Iron and Steel Forum in Manila on Sept. 22 this year.
An ASEAN steel shield
Oban called for an ASEAN Steel Resilience Compact that would diversify sources of raw materials and energy, encourage investment in local industries and build more production capacity across the region.
“Resilient interdependence means remaining open to trade while ensuring that no single supplier, route, technology, or production center can disrupt our regional supply chain,” he said.
The proposal comes as ASEAN’s growing infrastructure and industrial needs collide with concentrated supply sources, volatile energy and raw-material costs, uneven quality standards and tougher carbon requirements.
“Our collective strength will come not from duplicating every capability, but from connecting our different capabilities into a regional system that can absorb economic bumps enroute to regional prosperity,” Oban said.
Build more at home
As ASEAN chair in 2026, the Philippines is prepared to back an ASEAN Steel Resilience Roadmap built around cooperation among governments, manufacturers, researchers, financiers and other stakeholders.
Oban said the goal is not to shut out imports or make every ASEAN economy self-sufficient, but to develop “sufficient collective capability” so a disruption in one part of the supply chain does not paralyze the region.
“A nation cannot defend what it cannot build. And ASEAN cannot secure its future unless it possesses the collective capacity to build that future together,” he said.
—Edited by Miguel R. Camus
