Mitsubishi subsidiary Setsuyo Astec mulls factory in Bangladesh

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Bangla Tribune Desk
Published : 04:00, Dec 13, 2018 | Updated : 22:22, Dec 20, 2018

Mitsubishi subsidiary Setsuyo Astec mulls factory in BangladeshSetsuyo Astec Corporation, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, is considering to set up its factory in Bangladesh as the wages here is the lowest among the Asian and Oceania countries.

The production cost in Bangladesh is the lowest in the region and the country has been moving ahead with the efforts to set up power, traffic, building and other social infrastructures in recent years. The country’s expectations are also high as it has achieved even greater growth in the textile industry.

Bangladesh’s economy is moving forward with a higher speed than the other neighbouring countries, so Setsuyo recently launched its representative office in the country to strengthen market survey, information collection and such other capabilities, its Bangladesh Chief Representative Yusuke Imagawa told state news agency BSS.

“We have opened the office to provide detailed customer support and even higher levels of service by providing supports to local sales agencies in addition to implementing timely market surveys and collecting information within the nation,” the report quoted him saying.

Several Japanese companies are interested to expand their business in Bangladesh, Imagawa said before adding: “We have set up the office in Bangladesh as our 11th overseas office.”

Setsuyo is currently investing in the marketing and research, but it has a plan to open factory in the country as per the demand and development, he said. “We have factories in different countries, including China and India. Now, we are considering setting up factory in Bangladesh due to lots of potentialities in the market,” he added.

Responding to a query, Imagawa said there is a prediction that living standards will improve in alignment with economic growth, which will lead to expanded private consumption in Bangladesh.

“Local companies are expected to achieve greater growth in the future together with the accelerated arrival of foreign-affiliated manufacturers (from Japan, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Europe and the USA) which rises expectations for expanded demand in the fields of factory automation equipment, power distribution and control equipment and other such equipment,” he added.

As per a study of Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), about 70 percent of the Japanese companies in Bangladesh want to expand their business in the next one to two years as their confidence has improved.

About 270 Japanese companies are operating their business in Bangladesh. Even after the Holey Artisan incident in 2016, no single Japanese company withdrew business from the country,” the BSS report quoted JETRO Country Representative D Arai.

He said the Japanese investors are looking for an alternative destination like Bangladesh, pulling back their investments from China for the high wages and production cost.

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