|
Thursday, February 03, 2005
Firms in China prefer to expand in Cebu: MEZ exec
SOME China-based companies are expanding in Cebu, rather than in China, their own country.
According to Dahlia Luna, zone manager of Mactan Economic Zone (MEZ) 2 and other special ecozones in the Visayas and Mindanao, three of the four new locators of the Aboitizland-developed MEZ 2 are companies from China. The other one is a Japanese company.
In an interview last Tuesday, she said forward-looking multinational companies will also not expand in China anymore.
Luna said this is one of the reasons why she is focusing her attention on the scarcity of water in MEZ 2 and in the Cebu Light Industrial Park (Clip), an ecozone also located in Mactan.
“When I asked the new locators why they expand here in Cebu and why not China, they said sooner or later, companies in China will have a problem because of the increasing (social security) cost for employees,” she said.
Investors in China also cannot pull out their investment anytime because the Chinese government, which is adhering to communist principles, owns part of the corporation.
In a separate interview, Japan External Trade Organization (Jetro) executive director Toshio Asakura said China’s employees may have low wages, but their social security costs, shouldered by the company, are very high.
“Included in its social security cost are the health insurance, accident insurance and employment pension, if they lose their job, among others,” he said.
According to a document furnished Sun.Star by the Jetro-Manila, the social security burden ratio of 6.21 percent being shouldered by Philippine-based Japanese company employers is relatively low compared to the ratios in major cities in China, as well as other countries in Asia.
The social security burden is the amount paid by employers as counterpart for their employees’ social security benefits.
The social security burden ratio of major cities in China is as follows: 31.7 to 33.4 percent in Beijing, 43.5 percent in Shanghai, 22 to 30.5 percent in Dalian, 32.4 to 44.5 percent in Shenyang and nine percent in Shenzen.
Other cities that have higher social security ratios than the Philippines are Seoul, Korea at 9.04 percent; Jakarta and Batam, Indonesia at 7.24 percent; and Taipei, Taiwan at 9.7 percent.
Only Bangkok, Thailand and Yangon, Myanmar posted rates lower than the Philippines at four percent and five percent, respectively.
In terms of wage growth, the Jetro document showed that China still has a tendency to increase salaries continuously. Wage growth in Beijing, Dalian, Shen-yang and Chongqing largely exceeded 10 percent. Cebu had a lower nominal wage.
Luna said the 63-hectare MEZ 2 is now 98 percent occupied. It currently has 44 locators, including the four new entrants last year. It has 12,000 employees, up from 11,000 in 2003.
She said MEZ 2’s exports last year reached $37 million. (JBN)
(February 3, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
