Tata can't build a $5 billion steel plant for the tiny $123 billion Vietnamese market
I want to follow up on why I said Tata's proposal for a $5 billion steel plant in Vietnam is ridiculous.
Vietnam's economy is only $123 billion (see
List of countries by GDP (nominal) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).
Tata's proposed investment would equal 4% of Vietnam's economy! That's unheard of. Who will consume all of that steel production? You can't export it, because the Chinese have much larger economies of scale and lower prices. The domestic Vietnamese economy is way too tiny to make use of all that steel production.
In conclusion, Tata's proposed steel plant in Vietnam makes absolutely no economic sense.
If Tata had announced a $5 billion steel plant for China, I would have shrugged. It's a drop in the bucket for China's $8 trillion economy. Since China is producing 18 million cars a year and is the world's largest producer of white goods (e.g. refrigerators, clothes washers, dryers, etc.), it is economically feasible. However, putting a $5 billion steel plant in Vietnam is hogwash.