Chinese Companies are Finding US to be a Bargain!

After decades of US investments in China, it seems that the pendulum is swinging back. Today, many Chinese firms are pleasantly surprised to find that land, energy, and operating costs are actually cheaper in the United States as compared to China!

Liu Keli couldn't tell you much about South Carolina, not even where it is in the United States. It's as obscure to him as his home region, Shanxi province, is to most Americans.

But Liu is investing $10 million in the Palmetto State, building a printing-plate factory that will open this fall and hire 120 workers. His main aim is to tap the large American market, but when his finance staff penciled out the costs, he was stunned to learn how they compared with those in China.

Liu spent about $500,000 for seven acres in Spartanburg -- less than one-fourth what it would cost to buy the same amount of land in Dongguan, a city in southeast China where he runs three plants. U.S. electricity rates are about 75% lower, and in South Carolina, Liu doesn't have to put up with frequent blackouts.

About the only major thing that's more expensive in Spartanburg is labor. Liu is looking to offer $12 to $13 an hour there, versus about $2 an hour in Dongguan, not including room and board. But Liu expects to offset some of the higher labor costs with a payroll tax credit of $1,500 per employee from South Carolina.

"I was surprised," said the 63-year-old president of Shanxi Yuncheng Plate-Making Group. "The gap's not as large as I thought."

Link

(Photo: Don Lee / Los Angeles Times)


US companies outsource the work to China, layig off all their US workers.

Has no one ointed out to them that the people they fire can now not afford to buy the products that the commpany makes.

They lay off their potential consumers.

And there is no way on earth a chinese worker could afford tro pay the sort of money a Yank will for a car/stereo/mp3 player etc etc.

Free marketeering at work.

really apinfully stupid.

And it's all the sahere holders fault.

like baby birds they are blind, voracious and amoral.

MORE MORE MORE, what yo usacked all the employees raped their penion funds and moved the plant to a country that uses slave labour?

I don't care as long as I get more more more

Good luck with that capitalism.
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If you want to know why it's cheaper do a little research. Dongguan is a sprawling city of about 6.5 million people.

Spartansburg on the other hand has only 39,000. And that is if we are talking about the city. If the article is refering to the county it is only 250,000 residents.

You could go almost anywhere in the world and this would still be the case.
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@ Justin:

Seems like most Chinese plants would be in big cities. They don't have the transportation for factory workers to travel out to the country every day.

So therefore, maybe it usually IS cheaper to find a small rural/suburban town in the US to set up shop.
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