The Bureau of Product Standards (BPS), an agency attached to the Department of Trade and Industry, announced in a press release the revision of the Philippine National Standard (PNS) for Portland cement to align it with specifications contained in the American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM), reports Business World.

BPS director Jesus L. Motoomull said in the statement that changes include exclusion of minor and trace oxides, titanium dioxide and phosphorous pentoxide in reporting alumina. "Also, an option has been added for manufacturers to use processing additions in the manufacture of cement, provided that the materials meet the requirements of PNS ASTM C 465:2005 which covers the specification in processing additions for use in the manufacture of hydraulic cement," Mr. Motoomull said.

BPS also said the revised PNS requires manufacturers and importers to put additional markings like batch identification number and manufacturing date to facilitate product origin tracing, as well as shipping information for products shipped in bulk.