Southeast Asia's Sand Trade Is Predominantly Regional, and Its Data Are Limited
A study co-authored by Kai Wan Yuen, Diganta Das, Dung Duc Tran (HAPRI Senior Research Associate) and Edward Park maps sand extraction and trade across Southeast Asia. It finds that locally mined sand is mostly consumed at home and that the trade is predominantly regional, but limited and inconsistent data still hamper understanding of it.
Context
Sand is a vital resource for modern structures, yet there is limited information on the scale of sand mining or on what happens to the sand after it is mined. The authors focus on Southeast Asia because rising affluence and population growth have turned the region into a global sand mining hotspot.
Methods
The authors estimated the sand extraction budget in each Southeast Asian country and quantified the volume of sand that was exported and imported. They also set out where exported sand went and clarified where imported sand came from.
Key findings
Sand mined locally in Southeast Asia was mostly consumed domestically, and sand was imported when supply was insufficient.
The sand trade in Southeast Asia was predominantly regional.
The authors report that limited and inconsistent data hampered understanding of the region's sand trade, with production and trade flows unavailable for some years because of missing data.
Because trade data did not match, the volume of sand traded between each country was uncertain, and information on the type of sand traded was also lacking.
Policy implications
The authors state that the reliability and credibility of existing data should be strengthened to improve material accounting.
Keywords:
Sand Mining
Sand Trade
Southeast Asia
Material Accounting
Trade Data Quality
Link:
Citation:
Yuen, K. W., Das, D., Tran, D. D., & Park, E. (2024). Southeast Asia's dynamic sand trade and the need for better data. The Extractive Industries and Society, 18, 101452.
