Vietnamese government to inspect suspicious aluminium stockpile of alleged Chinese origin

In accordance with the directions of Deputy PM Trinh Dinh Dung, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will cooperate with the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, and other local authorities to inspect the aluminium stockpile of Global Vietnam Aluminium Co., Ltd. (GVA) in Ba Ria-Vung Tau. This inspection is aimed at verifying the information that the company imports Chinese aluminium into Vietnam.

GVA is the developer of an aluminium shaping plant. Jacky Cheung and Wang Tong, two Chinese-Australian businessmen, had invested VND5 trillion (about $250 million) into this plant which has the annual capacity of 200,000 tonnes, producing purely for export. According to its investment certificate issued by the Ba Ria-Vung Tau Industrial Park Management Authority, this project will last for 37 years, starting from 2011.

However, according to Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the real developer of the project is China Zhongwang Holdings Limited, a big Chinese aluminium firm managed by billionaire Liu Zhongtian, who has total assets of $3 billion, according to Forbes.

At the end of 2016, WSJ published an article saying it had found a wide range of abnormal import-export activities among China, the US, Mexico, and Vietnam involving Liu Zhongtian.

WSJ alleged that in order to deal with US anti-dumping tariffs, Liu and many other Chinese aluminium manufacturers have established secret entities in Mexico or Vietnam to export their products to the US. Compared to the 374 per cent on Chinese aluminium exports, the anti-dumping tariff on Vietnamese aluminium is 5 per cent only.

In Vung Tau, WSJ also discovered massive stockpiles fully covered by black canvas and watched over by numerous security guards on motorbikes with batons. The newspaper alleged that these abnormally huge aluminium stocks were to be transported to Vietnam from Mexico.

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