Higher Wages In China Give Mexico An Opening
China's rising wages and slowing growth present a chance forMexico to wrest back some of the business that chased cheaplabor across the Pacific in the past decade, when Chinesewages averaged a quarter of Mexican pay.
Mexico may already be a less-expensive place to make an arrayof products for the U.S. market, said Boston Consulting Group, which estimates that China's average manufacturing wage topped Mexico's this year, whenaccounting for differences in productivity. Mexican workers typically produce more per hour thanChinese workers, and the proximity to the U.S. means companies can ship faster and often at alower cost to American customers.
St. Louis-based Viasystems Group Inc., which makes industrial cabinets, shifted some work back toMexico from China in the past year. 'It took our clients a few years to react to rising costs in China. But now they are definitely getting much more interested in making things here,' said HomeroGalindo, head of Viasystems in Mexico.
China still retains enormous advantages, including a billion consumers. As Chinese wages rise, those consumers will have more money to spend on products rather than simply make them forthe rest of the world.
And few expect a wholesale rush back to Mexico. The drug war there scares away new business, and the country has built neither the skilled labor pool nor parts-supply chain to mount a seriouschallenge to China's manufacturing prowess.
But as Chinese wages continue to rise, Mexico looks the best-placed to benefit. Mexico, whichexports more than all the rest of Latin America combined, was the least-expensive place outsidethe U.S. to manufacture for the U.S. market, according to a December 2011 survey by consultingfirm Alix Partners.
Factories along the U.S. border in Mexico can supply American markets more quickly than those inAsia, especially with products that rely on custom designs or the whims of fashion.
Customers who buy a Dell Inc. computer at a big-box retailer get a product made by Foxconn inChina. But shoppers on the company's website can customize their orders─adding, say, morememory or a lotus-pink cover. Those computers are assembled and delivered from a sprawling 1,200-acre Foxconn plant near Ciudad Juárez, which churns out as many as 35,000 laptop anddesktop computers a day. 'We can have a truck on the U.S. side in a few hours,' said FranciscoUranga, Foxconn's head of business development for Mexico.
中國工資水平上漲以及經濟增長減速為墨西哥帶來了機遇，可以重新爭取到過去10年追逐太平洋彼岸廉價勞動力的部分企業。彼時中國平均工資水平只有墨西哥的四分之一。
波士頓諮詢公司(Boston Consulting Group)說，對於美國市場，很多產品在墨西哥的生產成本可能已經低於在中國生產的成本。該公司估計，在考慮生產率差異之後，今年中國製造業平均工資水平超過了墨西哥。墨西哥工人的'單位時間產量往往高於中國工人，而墨西哥與美國鄰近，這意味著企業向美國客戶發貨的速度可以更快，而且費用常常更低。
聖路易斯工業儲物櫃生產商Viasystems Group Inc.在過去一年將部分工作從中國遷回了墨西哥。該公司駐墨西哥負責人加林多(Homero Galindo)說：我們的客戶用了數年時間才適應中國成本的上漲，但他們現在對於在墨西哥生產產品的興趣肯定是大大提高了。
中國仍然保留著很多優勢，其中之一是上10億的消費者。隨著中國工資水平上漲，這些消費者將有更多的錢購買產品，而不只是為世界其他國家生產這些產品。
另外也很少有人預計企業會大規模回遷至墨西哥。當地的禁毒戰嚇跑了新的企業，而熟練勞動力或零部件供應鏈的現狀也還不足以對中國的製造能力構成嚴峻挑戰。
但在中國工資水平繼續上升的過程中，墨西哥似乎是最有條件受益的國家。墨西哥出口額超過拉丁美洲其他國家的出口額之和。據諮詢公司Alix Partners去年12月份一項調查，它是美國以外面向美國市場生產產品成本最低的地方。
墨西哥境內沿著美墨邊境建成的工廠可以比亞洲工廠更快地向美國市場供應產品，特別是那些依賴於個性化設計和時尚潮流的產品。
在大型超市購買戴爾(Dell Inc.)電腦的消費者，買到的是一件由富士康(Foxconn)在中國生產的產品。但消費者可以在該公司網站上定製他們的訂單，比如增加記憶體或採用粉色背殼。這些電腦在墨西哥華雷斯附近一座佔地1,200英畝(485.6萬平方米)的富士康工廠組裝和發貨，該廠每天最多生產3.5萬檯筆記本電腦和臺式電腦。富士康墨西哥業務開發負責人烏蘭加(Francisco Uranga)說：我們的卡車幾個小時就可以開到美國那邊去。