A cautious approach to a new market
As companies like Shell (London), Total (Paris), and Norsk Hydro (Oslo) spearhead the push into developing Vietnam's largely untapped oil and gas reserves, chemical firms are carefully monitoring events. Some already have fledgling operations there - ICI (London), for example, has established activities covering paints, titanium dioxide, and explosives. But most are waiting for others to go in first, says Patrick Looram, senior associate and director/Southeast Asia with Technomic Consultants, speaking at CW's 1993 Asia/Pacific Chemical Industry conference in Singapore. Describing Vietnam, with its 70-million population, as the last great Asian market,' Looram says the most important industries for the chemicals sector in the shorter terms are likely to include textiles, packaging, plastics, food and agriculture, and pharmaceuticals. But he notes the country's chemicals requirements are still at a very early stage, with 1992 plastics demand, for example, put at less than 100,000 m.t. Basic infrastructure requirements are put at $30 billion-$40 billion. Vietnam has a range of measures in place to establish a market economy, such as decentralized control over industry, freeing up of price controls, and liberal foreign investment laws. Fewer than 1,000 of Vietnam's 12,000-plus state enterprises are owned by national government; control is in the hands of the provinces and municipalities. But to get results, Looram says it is necessary to deal directly with plants. Many of these operations, however, are nearly insolvent, and Looram says about a third are expected to close over the next couple of years. The strength of other Asian economies is crucial to Vietnam's development, Looram says, while a lifting of the US embargo on vietnam will play an important role.
- OSTI ID:
- 6937207
- Journal Information:
- Chemical Week; (United States), Vol. 152:8; ISSN 0009-272X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
SOUTH VIETNAM
CHEMICAL PLANTS
AGRICULTURE
ASIA
CONSULTANTS
DEMAND
EMBARGOES
EXPLOSIVES
FOOD
GASOLINE
INVESTMENT
MARKET
PACKAGING
PAINTS
PETROLEUM
PLASTICS
RESERVES
SINGAPORE
TEXTILES
TITANIUM OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
COATINGS
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
ECONOMICS
ENERGY SOURCES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
INDUSTRY
ISLANDS
LIQUID FUELS
MATERIALS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PETROCHEMICALS
PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
RESOURCES
SYNTHETIC MATERIALS
TITANIUM COMPOUNDS
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS
020700* - Petroleum- Economics
Industrial
& Business Aspects