Land of the rising sums
To judge by the flurry of announcements over recent months, all is well with Japanese investment here. NGK Insulators opted for the Gliwice area of the Katowice Special Economic Zone as the location for its €25-million diesel particulate filters plant, supplying the major European automotive manufacturers on the market. The company plans to employ 150 people, and production will begin in January 2005.
Around the same time, Toyota Motor Industries Poland is scheduled to begin production at a brand new diesel engine plant in southwest Poland, supplying 2.0-liter-class diesel power units for Toyota vehicles made in the UK and Turkey. The plant, located 25 kilometres southeast of Wrocław and with an annual production capacity of 120,000 units, will have planned investment of €70 million and is expected to generate some 350 jobs.
Meanwhile Bridgestone, one of the world's biggest tyre manufacturers, will be expanding production at its Poznań plant. An initial €60-million investment will pump up output from 10,000 to 15,000 tyres a day, and will create an additional 200 jobs by the end of 2004.
Despite this upsurge, Japanese investment remains relatively low for a country that is such a major player in the global economy. The latest official PAIZ statistics have Japan languishing at a lowly 18th place on the list of FDI sources. Although the latest investments will certainly raise the country's profile here - along with its ranking on the investor list - there is still a lot of ground to be made up.
Jacek Wan, Warsaw correspondent for Nippon News Network, comments that Japanese companies were rather late to arrive here. The first big Japanese investment in Poland was the Panasonic battery plant established in the early 1990s in the Poznań area. Tyre manufacturer Bridgestone, the next major arrival, didn't set up until 1998.
Wan pointed out that this first flush of enthusiasm was quickly dampened by the Toyota debacle. The company was operating a highly successful plant in Wałbrzych, making gearboxes for the Toyota Yaris. This success led the company to consider locating a joint venture car plant with Peugeot Citroen near Bytom.
"But the AWS government failed to finalise the agreement," Wan said, "and the new government informed Toyota that although they were very happy with the idea, the negotiations would have to be restarted." The upshot was that the Peugeot Citroen-Toyota partnership got cold feet and opted instead to build its €1.3 billion plant producing 300,000 small vehicles a year and employing 2,000 workers, in the Czech Republic.
Such dithering by the administration is one of the major problems cited by Japanese investors. Takashi Tsuchiya, vice director of the Warsaw office of JETRO - the Japan External Trade Organisation - said that among the most common difficulties encountered by Japanese investors was the "Polish administration that is not effective."
On the plus side, Tsuchiya pointed out that a major attraction for Japanese businessmen is the local workforce. Generally, Japanese managers are happy with their employees, "because most Poles are good workers." It's the workforce that, in his opinion, offers Japanese investors a major incentive for coming to Poland, ahead of other countries in the region. "I think there are two advantages," he said. "In Poland there are a lot of workers who want to get a job. The second one is lower wages."
Around the same time, Toyota Motor Industries Poland is scheduled to begin production at a brand new diesel engine plant in southwest Poland, supplying 2.0-liter-class diesel power units for Toyota vehicles made in the UK and Turkey. The plant, located 25 kilometres southeast of Wrocław and with an annual production capacity of 120,000 units, will have planned investment of €70 million and is expected to generate some 350 jobs.
Meanwhile Bridgestone, one of the world's biggest tyre manufacturers, will be expanding production at its Poznań plant. An initial €60-million investment will pump up output from 10,000 to 15,000 tyres a day, and will create an additional 200 jobs by the end of 2004.
Despite this upsurge, Japanese investment remains relatively low for a country that is such a major player in the global economy. The latest official PAIZ statistics have Japan languishing at a lowly 18th place on the list of FDI sources. Although the latest investments will certainly raise the country's profile here - along with its ranking on the investor list - there is still a lot of ground to be made up.
Jacek Wan, Warsaw correspondent for Nippon News Network, comments that Japanese companies were rather late to arrive here. The first big Japanese investment in Poland was the Panasonic battery plant established in the early 1990s in the Poznań area. Tyre manufacturer Bridgestone, the next major arrival, didn't set up until 1998.
Wan pointed out that this first flush of enthusiasm was quickly dampened by the Toyota debacle. The company was operating a highly successful plant in Wałbrzych, making gearboxes for the Toyota Yaris. This success led the company to consider locating a joint venture car plant with Peugeot Citroen near Bytom.
"But the AWS government failed to finalise the agreement," Wan said, "and the new government informed Toyota that although they were very happy with the idea, the negotiations would have to be restarted." The upshot was that the Peugeot Citroen-Toyota partnership got cold feet and opted instead to build its €1.3 billion plant producing 300,000 small vehicles a year and employing 2,000 workers, in the Czech Republic.
Such dithering by the administration is one of the major problems cited by Japanese investors. Takashi Tsuchiya, vice director of the Warsaw office of JETRO - the Japan External Trade Organisation - said that among the most common difficulties encountered by Japanese investors was the "Polish administration that is not effective."
On the plus side, Tsuchiya pointed out that a major attraction for Japanese businessmen is the local workforce. Generally, Japanese managers are happy with their employees, "because most Poles are good workers." It's the workforce that, in his opinion, offers Japanese investors a major incentive for coming to Poland, ahead of other countries in the region. "I think there are two advantages," he said. "In Poland there are a lot of workers who want to get a job. The second one is lower wages."
