Swedish Clothing Giant H&M Locked In Africa Market

In recent decades, Africa has not seen many people's image in P: frequent wars, famine, rampant corruption, public order and so on.

However, Africa is a huge continent, including many countries, many of which are better economies such as South Africa, Kenya and Ethiopia.

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< p > in recent years, many African countries have achieved rapid economic development and the political situation has stabilized.

When a href= "//www.sjfzxm.com/news/index_c.asp" > Asian manufacturing < /a > costs increase year by year, low wage and cheap raw materials attract many Western companies' eyes.

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< p > Sweden < a target= "_blank" href= "//www.sjfzxm.com/" > dress < /a > giant H&M recently signed a huge purchase contract with Ethel Biya factory.

Making a a target= "_blank" href= "//www.sjfzxm.com/" > clothing < /a > in Ethiopia costs only half of China's cost, which has great attraction for H&M companies.

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(P) as Asia's manufacturing costs rise, will Asia lose the position of global manufacturing center and hand over to Africa? This is a pondering problem.

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< p > Hugo net learned from the African media "Dailymaverick". Columnist SIMONALLISON wrote about the topic of manufacturing industry shifting from Asia to Africa: < /p >

In the past few decades, Asian countries have achieved rapid economic growth by producing a large number of cheap products. < p >

But good things always end.

As Asian labor and raw material costs rise, Western companies are looking for alternative processing bases.

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< p > Sweden a href= "//www.sjfzxm.com/news/" > clothing magnate < /a > H&M focuses on Ethiopia in Africa.

Does this symbolize the beginning of a boom in manufacturing in Africa? < /p >

Over the years, Africa has impressed P very much.

Africa is always seen as an unstable region full of violent conflicts and rampant corruption. It is unanimously agreed that African countries are by no means a good long-term investment destination.

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Therefore, Asia has become a strong competitor in Africa, especially in China, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam and other countries. It has good production capacity and can produce a large number of products at the lowest cost in the shortest time.

These Asian countries have produced most of the world's products, and their economies have benefited.

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P, the reason why Africa can not compete with Asia is simple. Many investors think that investing in Africa is risky.

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< p > but now things are changing.

With the gradual prosperity of Asian economies and the increasing cost of operations in Asia, Western companies, which have been earning money for cheap wages, are keenly aware of the impact of the increase in labor costs in Asia, so these companies have turned their eyes and hope to find a place where they can continue to provide cheap labor for them.

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Under the background of P, H&M, a clothing giant, announced the purchase of garments in Ethiopia.

At the beginning of this month, it was announced that H&M will purchase 1 million garments from an East African country every month, and the plant will be put into operation on a large scale starting in September.

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A spokesman for P H&M said: "as a global company, our stores are expanding rapidly. We must ensure the speed of production and delivery.

We are not only upgrading the capacity of the existing production base, but also looking for new production bases. "

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< p > Ethiopia has also formulated corresponding policies to vigorously promote the development of the garment industry.

The government of Ethiopia regards "a href=" //www.sjfzxm.com "clothing industry < /a" as an important driving force for economic growth.

The government set a grand goal to make the export of < a target= "_blank" href= "//www.sjfzxm.com/" > textile "/a" > $1 billion in 2016.

In 2011, Ethiopia's textile exports amounted to only US $60 million, which means that textile exports should be increased by several times to achieve this goal.

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< p > the Ethiopia government provides tax reduction and low interest loan preferences for the "a href=" //www.sjfzxm.com "clothing industry < /a >. Meanwhile, the Ethiopia government is trying to abolish or simplify a series of official approval procedures and legal obstacles, so as to clear the way for foreign companies to set up garment enterprises in Ethiopia capital.

The efforts of the Ethiopia government played an immediate effect. After H&M, international retail chain giant Tesco and WAL-MART also purchased garments from Ethiopia.

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< p > Tesco and Wal-Mart Store Inc are attracted by the low cost of operation in Ethiopia. The cost of each garment in Ethiopia is only half that of China. This is the 2011 statistics, and the cost gap between the two countries is even bigger now.

In addition, the political situation in Ethel is stable, and the security situation is good. The government has greatly improved its operational efficiency and striving to achieve its development goals.

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Over the years, the manufacturing industry in Africa has been developing smoothly, and has been continuously competing with Asia, and has become an important driving force for the economic growth of Africa. P

Compared with the economic boom generated by selling natural resources, manufacturing industry is sustainable for economic development.

Resources will one day be used up, and the manufacturing industry can continue to develop, creating more jobs and training more technicians.

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< p > for many companies, workers' rights seem to be less important than price.

The record shows that Asian workers are risking the dangers of making beautiful clothes and smart phones in bad working conditions.

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< p > April this year, Bangladesh a href= "//www.sjfzxm.com" > garment factory < /a > building collapse is the result of ignoring the lives of workers.

A total of 1129 people were killed in the accident.

At that time, many workers were making clothes for the world's major brands in the building.

These well-known Brand Company enable workers to work in a dangerous and dangerous working environment and minimize their wages as far as possible so as to maximize profits.

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< p > the manufacturing cost of Bangladesh is low, which means that these well-known a href= "//www.sjfzxm.com" brand "/a" will continue to use Bangladesh factories to make clothes for them.

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Less than P > after H&M, Tesco and WAL-MART enter Ethiopia, other famous brands will follow suit to bring more business to Africa, so the African continent will usher in the manufacturing boom.

However, I hope that the government and companies will learn a lesson from Bangladesh tragedy and avoid similar things.

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< p > Hugo Xiaobian believes that since the recent twenty or thirty years, the rapid economic development of Asian countries, especially China, has been accompanied by an increase in wages and raw material prices. Western companies, accustomed to low wages and cheap materials, are gradually becoming uncomfortable because their profit margins have narrowed considerably.

So Western companies are looking to Africa, which is cheaper.

As the article says, the cost of making a garment in Ethiopia is only half that of China. As time goes by, the gap will also expand. Therefore, Africa will attract more and more western companies to invest and purchase in the future.

A portion of foreign investment has been withdrawn from Asian countries such as China.

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Less than P, however, most African countries have relatively backward infrastructure. The consumption power of local consumers is not as high as that of China and other Asian countries. Western companies need both Asian manufacturing factories and large Asian markets. Therefore, Western companies can not abandon Asia in large scale and turn to Africa.

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