Brother To Make Industrial Sewing Machines In Vietnam

NAGOYA (Nikkei)--Brother Industries Ltd. (6448) on Monday announced that it will begin making industrial sewing machines in Vietnam in May 2014, aiming to capitalize on low labor costs to enhance competitiveness.

This April, the company will establish a local subsidiary that will build a plant in an industrial park located east of Hanoi. The subsidiary will be capitalized at 22 million dollars, or roughly 2 billion yen, and will have some 400 employees. The cost of the plant has not been disclosed.

When completed, the Vietnam facility will ship to Asian destinations outside China. It will be Brother's second industrial-sewing-machine plant overseas, after one in China.

Due to the sluggish European economy, the apparel industry is stagnant and demand for industrial sewing machines remains weak. Slow demand is projected to drag Brother's industrial-sewing-machine sales down 18.2% year over year to 17.8 billion yen in the year ending next month.

(The Nikkei, Feb. 26 morning edition)

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