The challenges of the aluminium industry in Argentina (1930-2010)

MARCELO ROUGIER

Aluminium as a Material for Creativity

Presses Universitaires François Rabelais de Tours

Año: 2017; p. 93 - 107

This paper analyzes the process that led to the installation of the first andonly?until now?primary aluminium plant in Argentina, belonging to thecompany Aluminium Argentino (Aluar). Initiatives in this sense took place inthe 1940s, mainly by the military, by reasons of national defense, and then bylarge international companies, but for several causes none prospered. Finallythe project was developed by a government aeronautics agency in the 1960sand, with great promotional benefits, was awarded to a private company ofnational capital in the early years of the following decade. The company hadto face a depressed local market which was different from the original forecastsand to bet on vertical integration and rise of its installed capacity for thepurpose of placing the bulk of its production on the international market, astrategy that can be considered successful.