中國製鞋企業在埃塞俄比亞建廠

Huajian, one of the largest shoe exporters in China is planning a multimillion dollar factory expansion in Ethiopia in a sign that Chinese manufacturers are considering moving to Africa to benefit from preferential trade tariffs and lower labour costs.

中國最大的鞋類出口商之一華堅(Huajian)計劃在埃塞俄比亞投資數百萬美元擴建工廠，這一跡象表明，中國製造商正考慮把工廠搬到非洲，以享受優惠關稅和較低的勞動力成本。

The company, which makes shoes for Tommy Hilfiger, Guess, Naturaliser, Clarkes and other western brands and employs 25,000 workers in mainland China, opened its first factory at a purpose-built industrial zone on the outskirts of Addis Ababa a year ago.

爲湯米•希爾菲傑(Tommy Hilfiger)、蓋爾斯(Guess)、Naturaliser、Clarkes以及其他西方品牌代工的華堅，在中國大陸擁有2.5萬名員工。一年前，華堅在亞的斯亞貝巴郊外一個工業園區開設了第一家工廠。

Helen Hai, a 36-year old British-trained actuary who runs the factory, is sufficiently impressed with the outcome that she is starting a new line of injection-moulded shoes.

負責工廠運營的海宇(Helen Hai，見上圖)對結果相當滿意，以至於她拍板建造一條新的注塑鞋生產線。今年36歲的海宇是一名在英國受過教育的精算師。

This will add hundreds more workers to the factory in Ethiopia, where the economy is among the fastest growing on the continent, the leather industry is well established, but unemployment is rife.

這將讓埃塞俄比亞的這家工廠新增數百名工人。埃塞俄比亞經濟是非洲大陸增長最快的經濟體之一，該國皮革業非常成熟，但失業率很高。

Huajian had also signed an agreement with the China Africa Development Fund, a private equity fund owned by the China Development Bank, to invest jointly $2bn over 10 years in developing manufacturing clusters focused on shoemaking in Ethiopia, Ms Hai told the Financial Times. This had potential, she said, to create 100,000 jobs.

海宇向英國《金融時報》表示，華堅還與中非發展基金(China Africa Development Fund)簽署協議，在十年內共同投資20億美元，在埃塞俄比亞發展專注於製鞋的製造業集羣。她表示，這有望爲當地創造10萬個就業機會。中非發展基金是中國國家開發銀行(CDB)旗下的一隻私人股本基金。

“We want to use this as a platform to attract other players in the industry. If in five years there’s only one shoe company, I think Huajian should leave Ethiopia,” she said.

她表示：“我們希望把它作爲一個吸引其他製鞋企業的平臺，如果5年後這裏仍只有一家制鞋企業，我認爲華堅應該離開埃塞俄比亞。”

To keep costs low long- term, she added, the country had to encourage subsidiary industries by building economies of scale.

她補充稱，爲了長期保持低成本，埃塞俄比亞必須通過打造規模經濟來鼓勵附屬產業。

Huajian’s ambitions are striking for their confidence in the country’s long-term manufacturing prospects and for going against the grain of what African officials have come to see as China’s primary purpose on the continent: to extract raw materials and source markets for manufactured exports.

華堅的抱負引人注目，原因在於該公司對埃塞俄比亞製造業長期前景的信心，並與非洲官員對中國形成的看法恰好相反；非洲官員傾向於認爲，中國在非洲大陸的主要目的是開採原材料，併爲中國的製成品出口尋找市場。

Ms Hai said the business case was comparable to that which drove shoe manufacturers first from Europe to Japan and Taiwan, and then when labour costs there rose to China.

海宇表示，這其中的商業邏輯類似於當初歐洲製鞋商從歐洲移師日本和臺灣，隨後當這些地方的勞動力成本上升後，又轉向中國。

She said that while management and logistics costs were high because she had to bring in Chinese expertise and also components, this was countered by lower labour costs and preferential tariffs for African exports to the US and EU.

她表示，儘管由於不得不引進中國技術人員和進口配件，管理和物流成本很高，但抵消這些不利因素的是，這裏的勞動力成本較低，而且非洲向美國和歐盟(EU)出口可以享受優惠關稅。