Ethiopia Imitates Asia To Sprint Future Manufacturing Power

< p > to learn the road of Asia's development, Ethiopia must solve a series of problems: < /p >

Beyond P, the Sino African leather company is empty.

The long white factory built with blue windows is surrounded by almost empty parking lots. The sound of the machine can not be heard, and the national flag of the two countries is hunting in the wind.

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< p > but when we enter the factory gate and across the office building, we can hear the roar of the machine.

About 450 Ethiopia workers are shuttling.

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< p > factory is located in Suluta town.

Most of the factory staff also come from the locality, including the 22 year old girl, Wuberst Desalegn.

She has worked here since the factory was completed in 2010.

Now she has been promoted to the head of polishing department.

She said that if she did not work in China Africa leather company, she would not know where she would be and she might still stay at home.

"I think I will always work here."

She added.

Now, she can earn 1400 per month a href= "//www.sjfzxm.com/news/list.aspx Classid=101112107" > Ethiopia < /a > Bill (US $74), and can easily pay 250 Bill's rent (US $13).

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< p > the Ethiopia government hopes that millions of Ethiopia people can follow the footsteps of Wub e r s t.

The government plans to pform its economy from the main agricultural country (43% of the G D P of agriculture to about 85% of the labour force) to a manufacturing oriented industrial country.

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< p > Ethiopia wants to imitate the success of Southeast Asian countries, such as Vietnam, China and Korea. With the maturity of manufacturing industry, wages are rising.

The rising cost of manufacturing in Asian countries will push international manufacturers to Africa, where labor costs are low and land is relatively cheap.

Ethiopia has said for many years that it will prepare for the influx of such manufacturers.

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< p > but in recent years, the contribution rate of manufacturing industry to G D P in the country is still hovering around 4%. Although government officials have been making constant statements, they have not been able to drive this figure up.

The government of Ethiopia needs to solve some obvious problems before it realizes the dream of "imitating the brilliance of Asia's pharmaceutical industry", including lack of funds, backward logistics system and lack of experience.

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< p > Ethiopia has many advantages to attract manufacturers.

It is rich in < a href= "//www.sjfzxm.com/news/list.aspx Classid=101112108" > natural resources < /a >, such as livestock, dense forests, and planted cotton land, which provide raw materials for the production of leather, wood or textile factories.

"There are some of the best leather in the world in Ethiopia," said Ji Bingbo, marketing director of China Africa leather Co., Ltd.

Low wages are also the reason for attracting companies.

Most workers in the factory earn a monthly salary of between 700 and 1000 Bill ($37-53), which is much lower than that in Asian countries, according to quarterly reports.

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Less than P, Ethiopia has not only increased the employment rate, but also promoted the demand for domestic goods.

Almost all raw materials of S u l u t a leather factory come from Ethiopia, which brings additional benefits to animal husbandry and chemical industry.

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< p > the Ethiopia government is attracting foreign and domestic investment, said Girma Damte from the Ministry of industry.

"After a few years, we hope that industry will become our main industry.

We have provided many preferential policies for the manufacturing industry, such as customs duty exemption and tax exemption.

We see that foreign companies are very willing to invest in Ethiopia because of these favorable conditions.

He said.

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< p > before realizing the vision of manufacturing industry, Ethiopia needs to overcome some thorny problems.

"The first problem is that the government lacks the ability to organize orderly and can not provide one-stop services for investors," said Girma, a ministry official. "This is a tough job."

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< p > he said that Ethiopia has set up some auxiliary investment institutions, and has set up two industrial departments to improve efficiency.

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< p > but improving efficiency is only the first step.

For manufacturers, there is only one problem, backward logistics.

In recent years, the performance of the Ethiopia government has declined in this field. It dropped to 141 in 2012 from the 104 place in the world trade bank's < a href= "//www.sjfzxm.com/news/list.aspx Classid=101112102 > trade logistics index < /a >.

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< p > take China Africa leather Co., Ltd. for example, the soaking chemicals imported from China will take more than 40 days to reach the workshop of S u l u t a, and the freight rate is high.

Ji Bingbo also pointed out that factories often cut off electricity and factory spare generators ensure continuous production activities, which is another cost.

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Ethiopia has to solve these problems, but at the same time there are some favorable trends: foreign investors have brought technical experts and contacts with the international market, which have benefited local enterprises. P

"Foreign investors are already in a dominant position, and they have enough experience," Girma said.

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