Norway / Taiwan | Aluminium producer Norsk Hydro will purchase a 45% stake in Taiwanese aluminium re-melt plant Famco, which will have an initial annual production of around 75,000 metric tonnes of extrusion ingot. The plant is expected to be in operation by the end of this year, the company from Norway adds. It will be supplied by scrap metal products from around the Taiwan area, and is one part of the growing integrated supply chain Hydro plans to implement in the region.

‘This investment will strengthen Hydro’s position in the Asian aluminium market. We enter into a partnership with people who have been working with Hydro over time. With local knowledge and Hydro’s global technology support, we are confident this remelt plant will serve our customers well,’ says Harald Aasheim, Senior Vice President and Head of the Commercial Products sector in Hydro's Aluminium Metal business area.

Taiwan is the third-largest extrusion market in Asia, with a total extrusion ingot consumption of about 400,000 tonness – and the market is expected to grow. Hydro is currently supplying this market from its primary production plant in Kurri Kurri and its part owned Tomago-smelter, both in Australia.

According to the company, Hydro is committed to further expanding its activity in Asia in the years to come, and the Qatalum primary aluminium smelter under construction in Qatar will facilitate this ambition. Hydro will market and sell the entire production of 585 000 tonnes from Qatalum, which is expected to start production in late 2009. Full production is expected mid-2010.

The remaining 55% of the Famco aluminium remelt plant will be held by the holding company E-Tech, in which Lawrence Cho is the main shareholder. Cho has been working as Hydro’s sales agent in Taiwan since 2004.

Famco is located in the Yunlin Industrial Estate in Yunlin County, along Taiwan’s western coast. The plant’s equipment will allow for efficient production of a wide product range, including diameters ranging from four to nine inches, as well as special alloys. The investment will mainly serve the Taiwanese market, with export possibilities to supply regional markets outside Taiwan.

Acknowledgement

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