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Southeast Asia has built up a substantial downstream aluminium industry. Andrew Hall reviews the history, drivers, scope and scale of the region's sector in three key countries - Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia
Vietnam
Vietnam has sharp divides between north and south. A glance at a map shows a long, thin territory, marked with development in the south around Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and development in the north around the city ofHanoi. In between is a largely undeveloped area, which includes such regions as the Central Highlands. These divisions have shaped the course ofthe country's development.
International influences and conflicts have shaped Vietnam's economic developments and the direction of its aluminium industry. By 1960 it was thought that the country had large bauxite reserves, but exactly how large, and to what grade, was unclear.
Some work was done on proving them in the 1970s bythe Aluminium Corporation of China and a more extensive survey was undertaken in the late 1980s by ajapanese conglomerate that included Nissho Iwai and Sumitomo Corporation. A feasibility study estimated the proven bauxite reserves to be the third largest in the world and the quality of the bauxite to be very high.
Potential ready availability of hydro-electric resources in the general area of the reserves was also identified. Attempts were made to progress a joint Japanese-Vietnamese project, but no further progress was made at that time.
Some progress has since been made on realising Vietnam's potential for aluminium raw materials, but plans for primary smelting in the country have been slow to progress (see box).
Downstream development
Although an aluminium rolling industry has not developed within Vietnam, a significant extrusion industry has been built. In the midst of an ongoing trade embargo imposed by the U SA, interest in the sector was originally shown in 1990 by the Ministry ofHeavy Industries through the Vietnam Electric Equipment Corporation in Ho Chi Minh City. With a brief to manufacture basic architectural products, but lacking experience in the extrusion industry, the company bought aluminium scrap from China, together with an old 400tonne extrusion press with no instruction manual.
This hurdle was partially overcome when the company purchased an old 600tonne press from a Russian source, which did come with an instruction manual....