松下電器、回帰国内生産…日元便宜・海外工資高升

A few weeks ago the Yomiuri News on-line reported the following:

パナソニック、国内生産回帰…円安・人件費高で

2015年01月05日 08時50分

　パナソニックは、海外で生産し日本に逆輸入している洗濯機やエアコンなどの家電製品の大半を、今春から順次、国内生産に切り替える方針を明らかにした。

　円安の進行や海外の人件費の上昇で海外生産の利点が小さくなったためだ。家電最大手のパナソニックの「国内回帰」が他社に波及し、国内製造業の空洞化に歯止めがかかるかどうかが注目される。

　パナソニックの家電の国内販売額は５０００億円前後とみられ、うち約４割を中国を中心とした海外で生産している。

　パナソニックはまず、ほぼ全量を中国で作る縦型洗濯機の生産を静岡県袋井市の工場に戻す。その後、全量を中国から輸入している家庭用電子レンジは神戸市での製造に、中国で生産している家庭用エアコンも滋賀県草津市に、それぞれ切り替えを進める。

(試譯文)

 Panasonic made clear a policy that washing machines and air conditioners etc. as the major home electronics produced overseas and re-imported back to Japan, would from this spring be changed into domestic production in sequence.

   It was because the advantage of overseas production was small due to the falling of yen and the rise in personnel expenses in foreign countries. Whether this "home coming" of Panasonic, being the largest home electronics company, would spread to other companies and whether the hollowing of domestic industry would come to a stop were being watched.

   The sales value of Panasonic in family use electrical appliance was judged to be about 500,000 million yen; among them about 40 percent were produced in foreign countries where China was the center.

   Panasonic first returned the production of the vertical washing machines, which had almost all parts made in China, to a factory in Fukuroi-city of Shizuoka. After that regarding the domestic use microwave which had the whole machine imported from China, it would change  production to Kobe-city; the domestic use air conditioners now produced in China would also be moved to Kusatsu-city in Shiga, these changes would proceed respectively.

Probably such a move would help the employment situation in Japan.