Vietnam’s Nhan Co alumina refinery delivers lower than expected in 2016-17

Provincial authorities of Dak Nong in Vietnam said Wednesday, August 30, that the total tax to be collected from the Nhan Co alumina refinery in 2017 is estimated to come down form what was expected of it. The estimated amount stands at VND107.39 billion against an expected VND437.761 billion.

The alumina plant began operations in 2016 and produced 247,000 tonnes of aluminium hydroxide and 126,000 tonnes of alumina in the first quarter of 2017. It also exported 85,000 tonnes of alumina to Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan, and 16,600 tonnes of aluminium hydroxide to South Korea and Japan.

The Nhan Co alumina refinery paid VND57.181 billion to the state budget. Dak Nong provincial authorities estimated that the current revenue generating capacity of the plant would be only VND150 million. Around 52 per cent of the amount would go to the state budget amounting to VND78 billion, while VND72 billion would be directed to the local budget.

The revenue generating capacity of another alumina plant Tan rai, under Vinacomin, also stands low at the moment. Vinacomin management said that the production and business at both Nhan Co and Tan Rai were improving and that they have begun making profit in 2017 overcoming previous losses.

Nguyen Van Pho, former director of the Institute of Geological and Mineral Technology, once observed that the Nhan Co and Tan Rai alumina refinery projects will hardly ever be effective in the short term because of mainly two reasons – the low bauxite content and the Chinese technology.

Nevertheless, the alumina plant projects have helped generate large numbers of jobs, and improve lives of local people while boosting economic restructuring in the Central Highlands region of Vietnam.