中国制鞋企业在埃塞俄比亚建厂

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.

中国最大的鞋类出口商之一华坚(Huajian)计划在埃塞俄比亚投资数百万美元扩建工厂，这一迹象表明，中国制造商正考虑把工厂搬到非洲，以享受优惠关税和较低的劳动力成本。

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.

为汤米•希尔菲杰(Tommy Hilfiger)、盖尔斯(Guess)、Naturaliser、Clarkes以及其他西方品牌代工的华坚，在中国大陆拥有2.5万名员工。一年前，华坚在亚的斯亚贝巴郊外一个工业园区开设了第一家工厂。

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.

负责工厂运营的海宇(Helen Hai，见上图)对结果相当满意，以至于她拍板建造一条新的注塑鞋生产线。今年36岁的海宇是一名在英国受过教育的精算师。

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.

这将让埃塞俄比亚的这家工厂新增数百名工人。埃塞俄比亚经济是非洲大陆增长最快的经济体之一，该国皮革业非常成熟，但失业率很高。

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.

海宇向英国《金融时报》表示，华坚还与中非发展基金(China Africa Development Fund)签署协议，在十年内共同投资20亿美元，在埃塞俄比亚发展专注于制鞋的制造业集群。她表示，这有望为当地创造10万个就业机会。中非发展基金是中国国家开发银行(CDB)旗下的一只私人股本基金。

“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：“我们希望把它作为一个吸引其他制鞋企业的平台，如果5年后这里仍只有一家制鞋企业，我认为华坚应该离开埃塞俄比亚。”

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

她补充称，为了长期保持低成本，埃塞俄比亚必须通过打造规模经济来鼓励附属产业。

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.

华坚的抱负引人注目，原因在于该公司对埃塞俄比亚制造业长期前景的信心，并与非洲官员对中国形成的看法恰好相反；非洲官员倾向于认为，中国在非洲大陆的主要目的是开采原材料，并为中国的制成品出口寻找市场。

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，这其中的商业逻辑类似于当初欧洲制鞋商从欧洲移师日本和台湾，随后当这些地方的劳动力成本上升后，又转向中国。

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，尽管由于不得不引进中国技术人员和进口配件，管理和物流成本很高，但抵消这些不利因素的是，这里的劳动力成本较低，而且非洲向美国和欧盟(EU)出口可以享受优惠关税。