Samoa impacted by Aussie car plant closures

With all the talk of the impact of the closure of car manufacturing in Australia, it has been easy to forget the impact it may have on our smaller trading partners. The Guardian reports that Samoa’s largest private employer, the Japanese auto parts maker Yazaki, will close its Apia factory with the loss of 740 jobs in a major blow for the tiny Pacific nation.

Yazaki blamed knock-on effects from the shutdown of Australia’s car industry for the closure, which will be completed by the end of 2017. In a statement it cited “the competitive, fast changing automotive business environment, such as the withdrawal of the … automotive manufacturing sector within Australia.”

Yazaki, which specialises in wiring harnesses, has operated in Samoa for 25 years, bringing much-needed manufacturing jobs to the developing nation of 200,000 people. But with the Australian car manufacturing industry shutting down it has no market for its products.

Yazaki Samoa’s president, Craig O’Donohue, said the company looked at diversifying away from car parts in a desperate bid to remain open.

“We had about eight key programs — anything from tourism to shipping, agriculture, textiles,” he told the Samoa Observer. “We put together a crazy summary of business opportunities. We looked strongly at breadfruit opportunities to make flour … [but] we just couldn’t find a viable business.”

Ford rolled its last Australian-made car off the production line recently, while Holden and Toyota are also in the process of winding up their Australian manufacturing operations.

Image: Ford’s last Australian-built car. Source: Pulse Communication/EPA.