Friendship Cotton Mill Became A Sino Tan Joint Venture After "Restructuring"

In Vasily's language, the meaning of Urafiki must be more than just "friendship". In Dar Es Salaam, when you ask Urafiki, almost everyone will tell you that it is on Moro Gro Avenue. In the Tanzania people's dictionary, Urafiki has another meaning: in the 60s of last century, China's friendship cotton mill, which was built in Tanzania.

Friendship over the years Cotton mill The meaning of carrying is too much, not just economic. It also records history and becomes a common memory of Tanzania's generation to generation transmission. It is a symbol of friendship between China and Tanzania.

However, the reality may be a bit surprising: after nearly half a century, after the prosperity, restructuring and difficulties, the friendship cotton mill has been in a state of loss.

It is normal for the factory to encounter power failure.

7 kilometers away from the urban area of Dar Es Salaam, the Morogoro Avenue is being built vigorously. At the noisy roadside, the friendship cotton mill looks quiet. However, the quiet of August 23rd morning Spin The factory's consistent low profile has nothing to do with it. The day is Friday. According to common sense, it should be a good time to rush to production and work hard, but all the workers in the factory are off. The reason is simple: there is a power failure. According to the notice of the power supply bureau, it may be suspended for several days to say that a transformer has been burned. Now that the electricity was cut off, all the working groups could only stop, so they gave the workers an annual leave simply.

Wu Bin is the current general manager of the Sino - China joint venture friendship cotton spinning Co., Ltd., since 1996, he has been the fifth "head" of China's friendship cotton mill. He said with a peaceful smile, "blackouts are a common occurrence, but this is the first time for two consecutive days of blackouts.

Just as the workers dialed out of the factory, he received another phone call saying that the circuit was repaired.

In the 60s of last century, Nyerere, the founding president of Tanzania, came to Beijing and hoped that China could build a textile mill for Tanzania. At that time, China's diplomacy was vigorously developing Africa, so the "friendship cotton mill" was built in the outskirts of Dar Es Salaam. In 60s, a large textile factory with an area of 735 Mu was built in Tanzania without any economic foundation. At that time, it was a sensation to the two countries. However, in the 80s of last century, the friendship cotton mill was in a difficult position. Until 1994, the friendship cotton mill lost a total of $about 10000000, and finally had to stop production.

　 Become a Sino Tan joint venture after "restructuring"

In July 21, 1995, when Zhu Rongji, the then Premier of China, visited Tanzania, he put forward the idea of joint venture between China and Tanzania after inspecting the new equipment provided by China for the cotton mill.

At that time, it was coincided with the technical transformation of the Textile Industry Bureau of Changzhou in Jiangsu at the friendship cotton mill. Zhu Rongji immediately called the Changzhou side to take over the friendship cotton mill. At present, the Changzhou side has Cotton mill Five general managers were dispatched. After the reform, the friendship cotton mill was renamed "tanning Sino JIT friendship cotton spinning Co., Ltd.".

The joint venture failed to change the current situation of losses.

No matter what the management situation is, there are still many irreplaceable points in the achievements of the friendship cotton mill. At present, it is the first East African company to own a complete set of spinning, weaving and dyeing equipment. Large textile enterprises 。 It is also the only remaining overseas textile enterprise since the implementation of the market-oriented reform of foreign aid in 1995.

According to the introduction, as of 2012, the cotton mill after the reform produced more than 100 million meters of cloth and achieved a sales income of about 100000000000 Tanzania shillings (about 400 million yuan), occupying about 10% of the local market share.

According to Wu Bin, no matter before or after restructuring, it has never been profitable. "From 2007 to 2011, the friendship cotton mill lost more than 2 billion shillings (about about 10000000 yuan), and now it is 100 million yuan."

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Low efficiency and good welfare for workers.

In Wu Bin's view, the efficiency is not good, and the annual loss is mainly due to the low efficiency. Compared with China, the same input and output are very poor. Production efficiency is relatively low, mainly for human reasons.

Even ordinary workers, probably only 1/3 of the efficiency of domestic workers, and rough workmanship. In order to improve work efficiency, cotton mills began to carry out technical transformation in 2000, thus making up for the efficiency of some workers.

There are also characteristics in African cotton mills, where male workers are the majority. "In Friendship cotton mill There are only 30% women workers. From a technical point of view, men are naturally not as good as women, "Leng Guo Ping said." African women are doing housework at home, having children and working hours. Finally, enterprises tend to have male workers when recruiting workers.

Since last year, "for the purpose of production, machines are not all opened up, the more machines are opened, the more serious the losses."

Trade union strength makes enterprises concession

Now cotton mill workers earn about 15~20 tens of thousands of shillings (about 600~800 yuan). Moreover, during holidays, each person has to send 10 thousand shillings (about RMB 40 yuan). The local holidays are almost every month, sometimes several times a month. According to the labor law of the Tanzania, 45 hours per week and no more than 50 hours per month. Overtime wages are 1.5 times, and holidays are 2 times.

"Tanzanian workers work for 12 consecutive months, with 28 days of annual leave and paid vacation, and enterprises have to pay the fare back to their hometown every two years. The fare is not one person, but according to a family of four, two big two small calculation. Leng Guoping said that Tanzania's labor laws put forward very high standards.

In addition to these benefits, the factory canteen is free of charge and medical treatment is free. The workers will also subsidize 300~500 shillings (about 1.2 yuan to 2 yuan) for transportation after work. "Only one hundred and a hundred shillings a year (about RMB 40 thousand yuan) will be needed for eating and seeing a doctor". Basically, he said, China's state-owned enterprises before the restructuring in the 90s of last century.

Under the high standard labor law, the friendship cotton mill also formed a strong trade union. Speaking of the plaque of the "best employer" awarded by the Tanzanian Union last year, Wu Bin's feelings are very complicated. "Now, management and trade unions have been much better after these years of communication. It used to strike and stop production. Sometimes they just sit there and ask for dialogue with management to raise wages and benefits.

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　 Private enterprises have considered cooperation.

"In fact, bank interest and depreciation of equipment are the biggest expenses of enterprises at present. There are about 2 billion shillings (about 800 thousand yuan) each year." Wu Bin believes that from 1996 to now, the cotton mill also has more than two billion bank arrears, and "the interest rate on bank interest is now 4 million yuan".

With low efficiency and huge debts, Wu Bin can see clearly: "it is impossible to turn around deficits and gain profits. We can only pursue the stability of cash flow. So the loss is less than 2 billion, and the cash flow is increased.

The embarrassment of the company for many years made him somewhat angry: "according to reason, we should introduce a group of good workers and dismiss a group of old workers." But the fact is that they can not be done. They are all inherited from 1996. Therefore, there is no way to say that they have to quit, and workers will make trouble. We can not do things by market means here. "

Over the years, the friendship cotton mill has been struggling for transformation. Reorganization has also been discussed for several years, and there has been no substantive progress. The Tanzania government and Congress have different views on restructuring.

In the board of directors, the representatives of the Tanzanian government also had lengthy and inefficient discussions with Chinese directors.

However, there seems to be some new opportunities this year. Private enterprises have already taken into account, Wu Bin said, talking about cooperation with a strategic investor in China.

In fact, Friendship cotton mill Always have an excellent asset - lots. The factory area is very large, and it is a gateway to the main road to enter and exit the city. The newly built BRT will also enhance the value of the lot.