Showa Denko Establishes Rare Earth Alloy Plant in Vietnam

Showa Denko announced on Wednesday the firm established a joint venture to produce rare earth magnet materials in Vietnam. The JV will produce didymium (an alloy of metallic praseodymium and metallic neodymium) and metallic dysprosium at 800 tonnes per year. The plant construction is scheduled to start in November 2008 and the production to start in April 2010. The revenue target is set at 2 billion yen for the first year.

The JV, named Showa Denko Rare-Earth Vietnam, was established on 1 October inside Dong Van 2 Industrial Zone, 40 kilometers south from Hanoi. The capital is US$ 6.36 million (approximately 700 million yen), 90% shared by Showa Denko and 10% by Tokai Trade. The employees are about 130.

Showa Denko currently produces rare earth magnet materials at 3 plants in Japan and China. The annual output capacity is 5,000 tonnes at Chichibu plant, Saitama, Japan, 1,000 tonnes at Baotou plant, Inner Mongolia, China and 2,000 tonnes at Ganzhou plant, Jiangxi, China.