Malaysia Benefits From Shifts in the Global Solar Trade
太陽能板買賣變化惠及大馬
By Keith Bradsher

KULIM, Malaysia – Tucked away in this former tin-mining town, past the small farms of banana trees and oil palms, is one of the solar industry’s best-kept secrets.
在曾經開採錫礦的馬來西亞居林鎮，走過一些小型香蕉園與油棕櫚樹園，就是太陽能板製造業界保守最到家的祕密之一。

The six factories here with cavernous rooms constitute the production backbone of First Solar. Working alongside minivan-size robots adapted from car assembly plants and other industries, 3,700 employees produce five-sixths of the American company’s solar panels. Workers in Ohio make the rest.
這裡6座有穴狀廠房的工廠是美國第一太陽能公司的生產骨幹。這兒有3700名員工，還有來自汽車裝配廠及其他產業、廂型車大小的改裝機器人，聯手生產該公司5/6的太陽能板，其餘由俄亥俄州的工人製造。

The list of manufacturers is long. Panasonic of Japan has a solar panel factory down the road. SunEdison makes wafers 100 kilometers away in Chemor. Hanwha Q Cells and SunPower have giant factories even farther south, while Solexel, a Silicon Valley start-up, is preparing to build an $810 million solar panel factory.
製造商的名單很長。日本Panasonic在前面有座太陽能板製造廠。美國愛迪生太陽能公司在100公里外的朱毛鎮生產矽晶圓。韓華Q電池公司與美國太陽能源公司在更南邊有大型工廠，矽谷新創太陽能電池製造商Solexel則準備斥資8.1億美元建一座太陽能板廠。

Malaysia, a Southeast Asian nation with just 30 million people, is the biggest winner in the trade wars that have embroiled the solar sector. As Chinese companies have been hit with American tariffs and European quotas, Malaysia has increasingly attracted multinationals with its relatively low labor costs, lucrative tax breaks, warm relations with the West and abundance of English-speaking engineers.
地處東南亞的大馬人口僅3000萬，是太陽能板產業最近出現貿易大戰下的最大贏家。中國大陸的業者受到美國懲罰性關稅及歐盟配額打擊之際，大馬因為勞動成本較低、稅賦優惠、與西方關係良好，以及操英語工程師供應無虞而越來越能吸引跨國企業。

Malaysia is now the world’s third-largest producer of solar equipment, trailing China by a wide margin but catching up rapidly with the European Union. And Malaysia’s role in the global solar trade is likely to increase since the American government, as expected on December 16, broadened steep tariffs on panels made in China. Pending litigation would impose duties on panels made partly in China and partly in Taiwan, closing a loophole that allowed some Chinese companies to bypass the original duties.
大馬如今是舉世第3大太陽能設備生產國，遠落中國大陸之後，但正迅速追上歐盟。美國政府16日一如預期擴大大陸太陽能板的高關稅之後，大馬在全球太陽能板交易中的分量將隨之提高。未決的官司勢必對部分在大陸、部分在台灣製造的太陽能板徵稅，使大陸部分業者再也無法鑽法律漏洞逃避關稅。

“We liked Malaysia because it was a cross between just a straight low-cost play and a high-engineering play – it was sort of in the middle, where it was lower-cost but good engineering,” said Tom Werner, the chief executive of the California-based SunPower, which manufactures half its solar panels in Malacca, Malaysia.
太陽能源公司總公司在加州，半數太陽能板在大馬麻六甲製造。執行長華納說：「我們喜歡大馬，因為它結合成本低、技師素質高的優點。它位於中間：成本較低，工程品質好。」

The factories here are almost owned by American, European, South Korean and Japanese companies that prefer to talk about operations back home. Hanwha Q Cells, for example, produces 1,100 megawatts a year worth of panels in Malaysia and just 200 megawatts in its home market in Germany. But the company highlights that the engineering work is done in Thalheim, Germany.
居林的工廠多由美國、歐洲、南韓與日本企業經營。它們更喜歡談論母國的生產。以韓華公司為例，它每年在大馬生產發電量1100百萬瓦的太陽能板，在德國母市場卻只生產200百萬瓦發電量的太陽能板。然而它強調，工程在德國泰爾漢姆進行。

It is a common theme. The technology comes from overseas, but the employees and most of the materials are Malaysian.
這是共同的主題。技術來自海外，員工與多數材料則出自大馬。

Except for two expatriates in the finance department, all of First Solar’s 3,700 employees on three shifts are local hires. Most materials are bought from Malaysian suppliers.
除財務部的2名外籍人士，第一太陽能分3班的3700名員工全是大馬人。材料大多購自大馬供應商。

“Localization of materials is part of our strategy of continuous cost reduction,” said AR. Jeyaganesh, First Solar’s plant manager, walking across an immaculate floor at one of the 24 production lines here, each an exact replica of the company’s four lines in Perrysburg, Ohio.
廠區經理傑亞加尼希一邊在居林廠24條生產線之一的無塵地面走動，一邊說：「材料在地化是我們不斷降低成本的策略之一。」這些生產線完全複製俄亥俄州裴里柏格的4條生產線。

“When the decision is made” to add more robots or make other production changes, Mr. Jeyaganesh said, “it happens almost simultaneously in Perrysburg and here.”
他說：「決定增加更多機器人或做生產方面的改變時，裴里柏格與這裡幾乎同步進行。」

Malaysia is a beneficiary of the interaction of global trade rules, economic competitiveness and environmental policies in the solar industry. Tariffs have had the most immediate effect.
大馬是全球貿易規則、經濟競爭力與太陽能產業環保政策互動下的受益者。關稅的影響最直接。

Solar prices started plummeting during the global financial crisis in 2009, as Chinese factories began selling them for less than it cost to make and ship them.
太陽能板價格在2009年全球金融危機期間開始下跌，大陸業者開始以低於製造與運輸成本的價格銷售。

A flood of cheap Chinese exports caused two dozen solar manufacturers in the United States and Europe to go bankrupt or close factories. The United States responded in 2012 by imposing stiff anti-subsidy and anti-dumping duties totaling about 30 percent on panels from China.
大陸大舉出口廉價太陽能板導致美歐幾十家業者破產或關門。美國2012年對大陸太陽能板開徵高額反補貼及反傾銷關稅，總計約達30%。

The plunge in prices through 2013 put a heavy emphasis on cost competitiveness. As wages rose in China, multinationals began to look elsewhere as well. That gave an edge to Malaysia, with its fairly low pay for skilled engineers and machinery operators.
價格一路大跌至2013年底，凸顯成本競爭力之重要。大陸工薪上漲使外企開始物色其他地點，讓熟練工程師與機器操作員工資相對較低的大馬取得優勢。

Malaysian wages were much higher than those in China for years, but the disparity has now disappeared or even reversed. According to Malaysian government statistics, median nationwide monthly pay last year was $765 for factory technicians and $400 for machinery operators and assembly-line workers. That is similar to or lower than pay scales these days in coastal provinces of China with large export industries.
多年來大馬工資比大陸高許多，差距如今已消失或反轉。根據大馬政府的數據，大馬工廠技師去年的全國中間月薪是765美元，機器操作員與裝配線工人400美元。這類似或低於有大型出口產業的大陸沿海各省。

Malaysia also has some of Asia’s lowest costs for electricity, partly because the country is a large producer of natural gas.
大馬的部分電力成本也是亞洲最低的，盛產天然氣是原因之一。

One of Malaysia’s biggest attractions is the 10-year exemption from corporate taxes for large domestic and foreign investors. The tax break cinched the deal for First Solar to set up most of its production here, said Maja Wessels, an executive vice president at the company.
大馬的最大優勢之一是，大型本國外國投資人10年免公司稅。第一太陽能主管瑪雅．魏塞爾斯說，這使該公司決定讓多數生產作業落腳在大馬。

“That’s easy, the 10-year tax holiday,” she said. “When you look at solar manufacturing, and our manufacturing in particular, low labor costs contribute, but those taxes are critical.”
她說：「那很輕鬆；10年的免稅假期。談到太陽能板製造，尤其是本公司的生產，勞動成本低有幫助，然而稅才是關鍵。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/12/business/energy-environment/solar-rises-in-malaysia-during-trade-wars-over-panels.html

紐約時報中文版翻譯：
http://cn.nytimes.com/business/20141212/c12solar/zh-hant/

2014-12-30聯合報/G9版/UNITED DAILY NEWS 陳世欽譯 原文參見紐時週報八版上