Asia Express - East Asian ICT
Korea Starts Project to Secure Minor Metals for High-Tech Industry
March 10, 2006
According to a report by Reuters News, which cited an official of the Korea Resources Corporation, the Korean government plans to start a project aimed at stockpiling minor metals used in the production of high-tech products, such as semiconductors, mobile phones, and LCD TVs. Starting next year, the Korean government plans to spend 183 billion Won over a period of ten years to buy 14 types of metals, including indium, cobalt, ferro-tungsten, ferry-molybdenum, manganese, antimony, and ferry-titanium. A warehouse will be built to store 85,630 tons of these metals, which represents two months of import demand in Korea. Most of these minor metals are currently imported from countries such as China, Russia, and Congo, and imports are vulnerable to domestic politics and economies, while shipments of these metals can also be affected by wars or natural disasters in those countries. At the moment, Korea only has reserves of major metals such as copper and aluminum.