VIETNAM

Steel Plate Venture Planned: Nissho Iwai Corp., Japan’s sixth-largest trading company, will form a joint venture with Vietnam Steel Corp. and a Malaysian trading company to process steel plates in Vietnam. Establishment of Vinanic Steel Processing Co. will cost $600,000, with Vietnam Steel investing $300,000, a Nissho Iwai spokeswoman said last week. Nissho Iwai will provide 30% of the investment, and Malaysian company SMPC Metal Industries will provide the remaining 20%. The spokeswoman said the plant, which is scheduled to begin operating in the fall of 1996, will be Vietnam’s first steel plate processing operation.