Canon Picks Vietnam for
World’s Largest Laser Printer Plant
HANOI,Jan05-Canon announced yesterday that it
will start construction of its largest laser printer plant in the world in April
in the northern province of Bac Ninh.
The
Japanese company will invest 5 billion yen (about US$50 million) to build the
plant in the Que Vo Industrial Zone, where it will produce low-cost laser
printers for export worldwide.
Canon
Vietnam’s planning department chief, Ogiwara Tadayuki, said the company has
decided to build a new plant in Vietnam because its Chinese factories are
operating at full capacity and the worldwide demand for low-priced laser
printers is high.
“We have also picked
Vietnam because of its political stability, a liberalised investment environment
and cheap labour. The country has quite a good future,” Tadayuki said.
Tadayuki said the new Que Vo-Canon laser
printer factory, once built, will have a capacity of 8 million units a year. It
will export 100 per cent of its products, meeting up to 35 per cent of the
world’s demand for laser printers.
Canon
supplies half of the world’s laser printers, with its low-priced black-and-white
laser printers mainly exported to Japan, the United States, the Europe and other
regions.
In 2007, when the factory goes
into operation, it will employ at least 3,000 people, Tadayuki said.
Canon currently operates an inkjet printer
plant in Hanoi ‘s Thang Long Industrial Zone.
That $176.7 million plant, which will employ 7,000 people next
year, mainly exports its finished products. Canon exported its first printers
from Vietnam in May, 2002.
Tadayuki said
the establishment of the new plant could attract a number of Japanese and local
suppliers to invest in Bac Ninh Province.
Japan was third largest foreign investor into Vietnam last
year, investing $224.35 million in projects around the country.
The Ministry of Planning and Investment on
Thursday forecast foreign direct investment flows into the country could reach
$1.3-$1.4 billion in the first quarter and over $4.2 billion for the whole
year