U.S. MANUFACTURER TO MOVE 1500 JOBS TO JUAREZ
The U.S. division of a French manufacturing company, Thomson Consumer Electronics, is moving its television assembly operations to Ciudad Juarez and closing its two factories in Indiana, it was announced in mid February. One of the plants located in Bloomington is the largest television assembly plant in the world. Nearly 1100 workers there are slated to lose their jobs by April 1998 when the company plans to complete the factory closures. The Bloomington plant has been in operation since 1969.
The move is expected to save the company $350 million in less than ten years in labor and other production costs, according to a company spokesman. Labor costs will be slashed from $19 per hour in pay and benefits in Indiana to approximately $2.10 per hour in Juarez. Savings are also expected from consolidation of operations and decreased transportation times. It was reported that the move is a result of the company searching for ways to lower costs due to falling retail prices in the television set market.
Thomson already has two assembly plants in Juarez employing approximately 8,500 people. Last year the company moved a technical design center to Juarez that employs another 50 workers in Juarez and El Paso. It is one of the 10 largest private sector employers in Juarez and is among only 15 percent of Juarez maquiladoras that are unionized.
U.S. EMBARGO OF MEXICAN AVOCADO LIFTED
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced in early February that an 83 year prohibition on the importation of Mexican Hass avocados is over, after intense negotiations and five public hearings. A spokesperson for the USDA reported that the move will open the way for Mexican growers, who raise an estimated 806,500 tons of avocados, to access the estimated 150 million consumers in 19 approved U.S. states. The price per pound in the United States is $2.75, five times higher than the national market in Mexico. Under the terms of the agreement, imports of Mexican avocados will be permitted from November through February every year. States that are authorized to import the avocados are in the eastern portion of the U.S., far from the California avocado market. They are Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Washington, DC.
The USDA has also indicated that the detection of pests in any stage of the process, from production through distribution, will result in suspension of the importation allowance to the affected areas. Avocados that do not comply will not be imported, an administrator with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) division of the USDA told Reforma in an interview. The Mexican government is expected to invest $15 million pesos in new phyto and plant sanitation programs aimed at assisting Mexico's industry.
According to report in Reforma, Mexico enjoyed 60 percent of the U.S. vegetable market during the 1995-1996 winter season. A study from the Universidad de Chapingo said that during the winter months of December through April, Mexican tomatos held 68 percent of the U.S. market, cucumbers had 84 percent, bell peppers took 64 percent and zucchini had 84 percent. Mexico exported almost a billion dollars in agricultural products to the U.S. and imported $1.21 billion of produce from the U.S last year. With the lifting of the embargo on avocados, Mexico hopes to export $60 million worth of the fruit to the United States this year if the USDA certifies 2,000 hectares (5000 acres) of avocado orchards located in Michoacan as being pest-free.
MEXICAN LIVESTOCK EXPORTS NOSEDIVE
Only 173,029 head of cattle were exported from Mexico to the United States during 1996, the lowest number of cattle exports in over 5 years. The 1996 total represents a decline of 66.6 percent over the banner export year of 1995, according to a Diario de Chihuahua report. Officials have explained that the sharp decline is due to a prolonged drought in the cattle raising areas of northern Mexico which caused ranchers to sell off large numbers of their herds, and to Mexico's economic crisis which encouraged ranchers to export livestock rather than sell it locally. In 1994, 351,541 head of cattle were exported, but that number jumped to a record 518,444 head in 1995, a 47.5 percent increase.
Sources: El Norte, Reforma, Diario de Juarez, El Paso Times