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2016-06-07 11:01:14
European firms bring carmaking and an aerospace industry to north Africa
Jun 4th 2016 | CASABLANCA
CONSIDERING the help provided to big foreign manufacturers in Morocco over the
past few years, it would have taken a serious effort by them to fail. Renault,
a French carmaker, for example, is thriving: of 2.8m cars it made globally last
year, one in ten trundled out from its two shiny assembly plants in Tangier and
Casablanca. It hopes eventually to make 400,000 cars a year. The government
provided land, excellent roads and power supply, tax advantages and a dedicated
railway line to get the vehicles to an enormous port in Tangier. Official
efforts to snip red tape and make it easier for firms to operate, and a
penchant for signing free-trade deals, help to explain why foreign-direct
investment is soaring, even as it shrivels for its neighbours.
One of Morocco s main draws is a supply of cheap labour. But it has also spent
heavily on infrastructure, and not only for Renault. Its road network,
railways, airports and ports are modern and well-maintained. It is handily
close to the European home of many of the firms that have invested. But most of
all, unlike Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt, which to varying degrees can match
these other advantages, it offers political stability. The king, Mohammed VI,
has championed a plan to industrialise quickly and create jobs for young
Moroccans. We are trying to do in ten years what Britain or France took 80
years to do, says a Moroccan businessman working with Safran, a French
industrial group.
The country s welcome mat has brought jobs. Four years ago Renault invested
1.6 billion ($2.1 billion) in its main car plant, Africa s largest, and it now
employs nearly 10,000 staff locally. The firm is one of Morocco s biggest
companies. It produces vehicles such as the Lodgy, an entry-level
people-carrier sold in Europe. Rapid growth proved possible partly because the
king ordained it (his decrees get otherwise languorous civil servants to jump)
for example, in providing generous subsidies for training. Other firms are
being lured by Morocco s largesse. PSA Peugeot Citro n will open an assembly
plant in Kenitra, on the Atlantic coast, in 2019, and plans to make 200,000
cars a year.
Domestic sales account for a modest part of production. Marc Nassif, general
manager for Renault in Morocco, says locals bought 125,000 cars last year,
about two-fifths of them from his firm. More important are car exports that
earned Morocco a hefty 4.8 billion last year, making them the country s
biggest single export. That is not a bad record for a country that, until
recently, relied mostly on textiles and tourists for hard currency.
Shifting production to lower-cost countries is an old strategy for European
carmakers. Renault already has huge facilities in Slovenia, Romania, Turkey
and Russia, as well as Spain, says Mr Nassif. As wages rise there, cheaper
north Africa is more tempting. By one estimate monthly labour costs for Renault
workers in Romania or Turkey are around 950, compared with 350 in Morocco.
Other factors also help to explain Renault s expansion. Carmakers are relying
on sales in new markets to keep growing. African consumers are a long-term bet.
To make vehicles that will appeal to their customers, carmakers like to keep
production close so they can tweak to satisfy local tastes. The main point is
you must manufacture where you sell, says Mr Nassif.
Cheap and well-trained locals and official munificence explain a boom in
another manufacturing industry, aerospace. Its growth was also ordained by
Morocco s king just over a decade ago. Now some 100 firms, including
Bombardier, Safran, UTC, Hexcel and Eaton, employ 11,500 people, mostly in a
tax-free zone by Casablanca airport. An industry veteran says the goal is to
double that workforce, at least, by the end of this decade.
Hamid Benbrahim el-Andaloussi, who heads the industry s trade body, says a
starting monthly salary in aerospace is equivalent to $400 or less, rising to
$800 for middle managers. Fitting wiring is more akin to craft than mass
production, so high-quality workers are crucial, too. Morocco s government
funds a facility run by the firms similar to support for the car industry to
train some 800 workers each year. It is being expanded.
In Safran s factory in Casablanca, workers assemble nacelles structures
encasing engines under aircraft wings and fit honeycomb composites that help to
muffle the screams of jet engines. The boss of Safran Nacelles in Morocco,
Thierry Fradet, praises his expanding factory s location, saying finished goods
can reach Toulouse, Airbus s headquarters, in southern France within three
days, by lorry and ship.
Such industries are reshaping Morocco s economy. But assembly does not bring
the bigger gains of higher-value work, such as research and design, nor create
a wider system of local suppliers. Mr Nassif expects local firms will
eventually supply two-thirds of components at Renault s Tangier plant, though
he does not say when. Creating a supply chain is hard in aerospace, says a
manager at Matis, a joint venture between Safran and Boeing for aircraft
wiring. Suppliers are expected to share in the investment costs and risks of
developing new components. The next job getting small, local firms to flourish
will prove tougher than luring big foreign ones in the first place.