|
Kan, Hatoyama to meet Vietnam leaders to seek rare-earth supply
Japan is sending a delegation including a former prime minister to Vietnam to discuss securing rare earth supplies, before a possible meeting between leaders of the countries on the subject at an Asean summit.
Yukio Hatoyama, who served as Japan’s premier for eight months till June this year, travels to Vietnam today, Daisuke Haga, his parliamentary secretary for policy said yesterday. Nine lawmakers and ministerial officials are joining the delegation, he said. Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his Vietnamese counterpart, Nguyen Tan Dung, will discuss rare earths at a meeting of leaders the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Hanoi next week, Nikkei English News reported.
Japan is seeking alternative sources of rare earth metals after China, which controls more than 90 percent of world supply, cut export quotas of the materials used in Toyota Motor Corp. hybrid cars as well as disk drives and batteries. Kan’s government set aside funds to find new sources of the metals in a stimulus plan announced on Oct. 8.
“Vietnam would welcome Japan’s private investment in rare earths and other resources,” said Shozo Sakata, a Vietnam specialist at the Institute of Developing Economies at the Japan External Trade Organization. “That said, I don’t think Vietnam wants to get involved in Japan’s political games with China because the country, which has had territorial disputes with China, doesn’t want to provoke the Chinese.”
Yoshikatsu Nakayama, vice minister of economy trade and industry, will travel to Vietnam tomorrow, the trade ministry said in a statement on Oct. 20. The ministry wouldn’t confirm who else was traveling to the southeast Asian nation.
Mineral shortage
Japan’s stockpiles of rare earth mineral may run out as early as March, Agence France-Presse cited Nakayama as saying late yesterday.
The country may have a shortage of about 10,000 tons of rare earths next year, or more than 30 percent of the country’s annual demand, according to Sojitz Corp., a trading house that imports most of the nation’s supply.
Toyota Tsusho Corp., a trading company affiliated with Toyota Motor, formed a joint venture with Sojitz and a Vietnamese state-run mining company to import rare earths to Japan from 2012, Katsutoshi Yokoi, a Tokyo-based spokesman, said. Showa Denko K.K., the world’s second-biggest hard-disk maker, opened a rare-earth plant in Vietnam in May this year.
“Companies typically stockpile around a half-year’s worth of rare earth supply, so they should be okay for now,” said Shinya Yamada, a Tokyo-based equity analyst covering manufacturing companies at Credit Suisse Group AG.
‘Economic friction’
“It is feasible they might not be able to get anything out of China until the end of this year and if exports don’t resume next year, we will see trade issues involving the World Trade Organization, leading to economic friction,” he said.
Showa Denko declined to say how much rare earths they stockpile. Shipments from China are “behind schedule,” Junichi Tagaki, a Tokyo-based spokesman said.
The delegation will also be lobbying for companies led by Tokyo Electric Power Co. to be awarded a contract to build an atomic power station and for Vietnam to choose Japan’s bullet- train technology for its planned high-speed railway network, Haga said. Vietnam in August agreed to seek technical support from Japan to conduct a feasibility study for bullet trains to link major cities.
Tokyo Electric, Toshiba Corp., Hitachi Ltd., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and partners will start a joint venture today to supply atomic reactors to Vietnam and other developing countries. Japan wants to boost a stagnating economy by exporting technology for power generation, so-called smart power grids and high-speed railways.
Nuclear plants
Vietnam said on June 22 it plans to build as many as 13 nuclear power plants with a capacity of 16,000 megawatts by 2030. Russia’s state-owned Rosatom Corp. was selected to build Vietnam’s first atomic power station, the Vietnam Agency for Radiation and Nuclear Safety said on June 17.
Hatoyama, who promoted Japanese nuclear and rail technology while he was prime minister for eight months through June, wrote to Dung in February to support Japanese companies bidding for the next Vietnamese atomic power station. Dung responded in a letter that Vietnam will give “maximum, serious consideration” to Japan’s technology.
State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Takeaki Matsumoto is among the officials visiting Vietnam, Haga said. Japan’s foreign ministry and the Vietnamese National Assembly’s external affairs department declined to comment.
A meeting is planned with Dung on Oct. 25 in Hanoi, said a Vietnamese National Assembly official who can’t be named because he isn’t authorized to speak to the media.
Meetings will be held at the ministries of transport, trade and industry, science and technology, and natural resources and environment, the Vietnamese official said.
Bloomberg
|
