JPRS ID: 9995 JAPAN REPORT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: JPRS
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00850R000400050045-3
• Release Decision: RIF
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 34
• Document Creation Date: November 1, 2016
• Sequence Number: 45
• Content Type: REPORTS

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JPRS L/9995
- 21 September 1981
9
- a ar~ Re o~t
p p
CFOUO 56/81)
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JPRS L/9995
21 September 1981
JAPPN REPORT
(FOUO 56/81)
~ C~NTENTS
SCIENCE AND TECHNOZOGY
Middle, Near Eaat Provide Market for Zarge Piants
(Shigeru Matsui; BUSINESS JAPAN, Aug 81) 1
Aluminum Industry Struggling for Survival
(BUSINESS JAPAN, Aug 81) 6
High-Polymer Whisker Crystals Show Great Promise
(BUSINESS JAPAN, Aug 81) 10
New Polyimide Resin Developed for Printed Circuit Boaxd
(Kenji Tsukanishi; NITACHZ HYORON, Apr 81) 12
ECONOMIC
Enterprises Find Welcome in Middle East Countrins
(Yasuf wr,i Sugiyama; BUSINESS JAPAN, Aug 81) 29
- a - [IIr - ASIA - 111 FOUO]
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~CIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
I-IIDL~LE, NEAR ~ST PROVIDE MARKET FOR IA,RGE P~ANTS
Tokyo BUSINESS JAPAN in English Vol 26, No 8 Aug 81 pp 41-43
~Article by Shigeru Matsui~
~Te:ct ]
I T was only after the tirst oil crisis at the end of 1973 that
Japan's in~.iustrial plant exports to the 1liddle and Near
East began progressing a(ong the ri~t lines. Since then.
Japanese enterprises have been exerting eFforts to advance
into the area in order to secure the oil resources that
support Japanese industry and to seek markets for Japa-
nese-made industrial plants.
.4s indicated in the attached table compiled by the
,Llinistry of Intcrnational Trade and Industry, lapan's
- in~lustrial plant exports to the Middle and Near East after
fiscal 19 i~ liave shown fluctuations in share and valile in
relationship to the nation's total industrial plant exports:
? 1.8% in tiscal 1975, 36.3�Io in fiscal 1976, 21.~no in fiscal
1977, 16.~~'o in fiscal 1978, 31.O~Io in fiscal 1979 and 19.~~"0
in fiscal 19~p. This shows that the nation's industrial plant
exports to the !~liddle and Near East increased at the annual
growth rate ot '_~.~3~~ over the past six years.
Currently, tha Ministry of International T'rade and
, ~ Iridustry ('r11T[1 hopes tu achieve more than 510 b~lliun a
year in industrial plant e~cpurts. In fiscai 1979, such exports
rapidly increased by 35.~~~ to S 1 1,?80 million as compared
with w3,730 ~niUion in the previous tiscal y~ar. Even though
~11T1 lioped to see the value of such exports in fiscal 1980
surpass the S l0-billion level, dley remained at the level of
- only 58,930 million, showing the first negative growth ui
. the past decade.
The mair causes of this decline were the conflict
between lran and Iraq and ttze uneasy pofiti~al situation in
the Middle and Ne~r East ;~s a whole. Because of the
Ira~~-(raq w3r, lapan's industrial plant expurts to both
cc~ur~rries wcre suspended. The nation's exports ol' purt
tacilicies tu Iraq were also suspended and new negutiations
f~,; other exports wcre postponed.
~levertheless. MITI plans to expurt such plants tu wurld
markets at a level ot more than S 10 billion a year. In this
_ c:~se, the larges[ emphasis is to be placed un exports to the
;~tiddle and Near East. In regiunal shares ~Isu, the compara-
tive stability in recent years is expected tu result in more
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negotiations tor importing larger plants. Relying on abun-
~ dant oil dollars, such ~rabic oil producing cuuntries as
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar,
Bahrain, Oman, [raq and Libya are actively engaged in
~ mudernization programs and completing thier industrial
facilities and infrastructure. This is quite clear when we see
their economic developmenc plans. Egypt, with limited
- foreign currency reserves in the past, lias now become
- affluent as it is now producing sume 600,000 barrels of oil
every day and receiving a large amount in fees from the
uperatiun of the expanded Suez Canal. Overseas Eeyptians .
are alsu remitting large amounts of foreign currency to their
home country.
In addition to s~:h tavorable cunditions as stated above,
the most attractive tact to Japanese industrial piant
manufacturers and exporters is that, except cor Egypt, all
the Arabic oil producing countries repay the costs of such ~
plants in cash.
~ Japan sought new markets for industrial pla: ts in China,
but the large shift in China's econumic policy an.~ its lack
of foreign currency reserves have suspended almost all the
projects, and negotiations for Japanese industrial plants. to
z be exported have all but scopped. There is no such anxiety
concerning plant exports to the Middle and Near East.
Despite such favorable conditions, the political uneasi-
ness in the Middle and Near East could result in revolutions,
coups d'etat, terrorism and political changes. Even in these
cases, Ilowever, it is expected that only those in power
. would change; the basic policy to modernize the nations
would remain. Even in lran's Islamic revolution that
overthrew Stiah Pahlavi's regirr:e, the new regime led by
Ayatollah Khomeini expresses its strong intention to
_ continue to construct the petrochemical plant which was
under construction in a joint venture between the [ranian
government and Japan's Mitsui gro~~p of enterprises.
As far as Japanese industrial plant manufacturers' efforts
to establish some footing in the 11i~dle and Near East are
concerned, sume quick actiuns were made without proper
~ study ~n the beginnin~ as they wanted to acliieve some
notable results. However, the more they liave come to
~ understand the actual situation in these areas and accumu-
lated experiences through their undercakings, the more .
their moves have becume effective. They have now entered
a phase of fair competition with rival enterprises from
Europe and the United States. They have learned many
lessons through encounters with Western enterprises on the
spot. There are no longer e;ccessive competitions with their
overseas counterparts in this market. ~'nder such circum-
stances, Japanese indusuial manufacturers have been classi-
fied quite accuratPly by the Arabic oil producing countries
concerning tl~eir tields of specialty, technological capacity.
and engineering capabilities. As the backgrou~~d of the
' excessive competitions in earlier years, there was the fact
tf~at J~pa~lese shipbuitders, whu were suifering from stag-
nant business. ~ctempted tu export various machines for
land use and tried to win orders even through dumping to
secure so?ne share in the market.
~s the Arab oil producing countries came ro hnow the
incernal situation and capability uf each of the Japanese
enterprises, these ~ompanies could no longer ~ontinue
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dumping their industrial pl~nts. 1'hey have undergune a
kind ot natural selection and thuse which could nut meet
the strict requirements of :he Arab oil producing countries
' have gradually been eliminared from the competition. The
requirements impused by the Arab oil producing cuuntries
on the technolugical level oC Japanese enterprises are ~u
severe that thuse wliich du not hav~ sufticient engineeru~g
capability and technolo~cal capacity cannot participate in
the biddings.
ln the case of industrial plants tu be expurted tu the
Ntiddle 3nd Near East, each of the plants is so large in both
scale and value that it custs at least from several scores of
billion yen ro~~00 billion at the most, several times larger
than thuse beine exported tu Southeast .asia ur Central and
Suuth :~merica.
This being the case, therefore, nu une Japanese manu-
farturer ran praduce alune an industrial planc tur whi~h it
h~s received an order: instead. several manutacturers are
required to take part on a joint basis in the production of
_ the plant by manufacturing portions in which they are
technical more advanced than the others. On the part of the
Arab oil producing countries also, this type of joint
participation is thought more acceptable and it has becorr~e
a common practice for the Japanese enterprises to organize
international consortiums together with European or U.S.
enrerprises to jointly fill orders for industrial nlants.
1n the case of industrial plants to be exported to the
Asian region, an individual Japanese manufacturer is able to
meet the requirements, but it cannot do so in the case of
those to be exported to the Middle and Near East.
Japanese industrial manufacturers are no longer trying to
sell their products through dumping, but they have their
own fields of speci ilization and technology and now prefer
the method of filling orders on a joint basis with European
or U.S. manufacturers through an international consortium.
~ The types of such international consortiums have .
become rather fixed in recent years depending on the
history of cooperative relations with their Western counter-
~ parts as well as how they recognize the technical capability
of Japanese industrial plant manufacturers. Unless there is
agreement, no consortium can be effectively organized, but
once they have achieved a good reputation in r~upplying
indust;ial plants on a joint basis, the participants in such an
_ international consortium are likely to continue their coop- �
eration over a long period of time.
' Under such circumstances, the roles of Japane~EEO nese enterprises will establish bwi^ess
operations there. Such expansion is
assured because the Japanese ways of
management and technological guid-
ance as wel] as Japan's modern produc-
tion technology are regarded highly
by the people of ~iiddle East coun-
tries.
Table 3. Approved Exports of Industrial Plants by Region
~uni~: st,oou?
i~ FYt9?6 FY1977 ; FYt978 ' FY1979 FY1980
~`o. ~ ' No. ; ~ No. ! ~ No. ; 40. ,
, of Value Share oi ~ Value j Share of ' Value Share ut ~'alue Share : of ~ Value ~ Share
itrms items ~ ' items ~ ! items ; items
Southeast Asia ~'l6 ~ 1.=60.919 : 15.8 ?38 i 1.848.d56 ?1.5 ~?26 , 2.4U6.975 2?.6 187 1.878.143 16A , 196 2.d35.917 2'.3
~ ~tidJle ir.d ' I
~ Near Eas~ 38 ''.906.57: 36.3 ~ 94 I,851,440 ',1.5 87 ~ l.~?0.434 i6.3 , 118 3.624,;3? 31.0 ' l24 1.1J3.771 19.5
West Europe ' ~ ~j ~ '
and tinrth T9 3?6,8ti9 ' i.l 7? ; 49?,642 ~ 5.7 68 I:IS,?04 ~ ?.S 95 458.535 3.9 ; 105 772,999 3.6
Amena I ~ '
Central ~nd ~ ~ ~ ~
South Amenca '~Z' ~>>g�392 14.7 l40 i 8)0,4a6 ~ 9.6 ! l67 ' 2,021,304 �?3.2 ; 1?0 ' S94,834 5.0 , BI 791,105 ~ 89 i
i
~fric~ ~ 5~ ; y19.491 t0.2 ~ a2 I.951.1t4 ~:?.7 ; 46 ; 640.589 I 7.3 ~ 41 ~ 863,'45 '.1 4t . 1.647,845 ' 18.4
t ~ ;
Ocean~a ' ti~.3U7 0.6 ' l3 ~ 1??,140 . 1.~1 ' !3 i 329,382 ; 3.7 ' 1? ' 48.284 . 0.4 ?6 ?63.757 3.0
i ~ ~ ~
iommuaisc i04 I.349,9Y5 13.1 ~ l~l ~ I.Sll,l36 ' 17.6 ~ l46 : 1,695,086 19.4 170 4,317,708 36.6 ' l04 1.2'76,602 14.3
h:,~c ~
To~~l-----^ti80 ~SA05.5?5 Ioo ~3G , a.60~.37s ~ t00 ~53 ' 8.7?9.17a ' 100 ! ~43 'IIJSa,981 t00 ; 6~7 8.93t.996 ~ l00
- - - ~
;Saurce. .~linistry of Incemahonal Trade & Industrvi
COPYRIGHT: 1981 Nihon Kogyo Shimbun
CSO: 4120/327 END
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