RISING SUN OF JAPANESE CAPITALISM .
In the December 13 Observer, the well-known London weekly, Anthony Bambridge writes about the alarm among British shipbuilders over Japanese competition. The alarm, he declares, is not confined . to the British Isles but is apparent throughout Europe. "Europe's shipbuilders have no doubts in. their own minds that the Japanese are out to kill them off,"
Two factors have given the Japanese the edge, according to — Bambridge. One is costs. "It will také 10 years before Japanese costs and prices rise to European levels." The other is obsoles-. . cence. "One British shipbuilder thought his industry still had 'the millstone of history round its neck.' He was referring to out-ofdate yards, not management."
How stiff Japanese competition is can be judged from the following: "In 1960, orders received by Japan were less than half those of the European yards; three years later Japan was gobbling up more orders than all the Europeans together, The Japanese builders are now adding five new yards to their existing 24. The first clash of steel in those yards may be the death knell for many of Europe's | smaller yards, Britain alone has lost 12 of these in two years."
_.. The Japanese are aggressively moving "right into the enemy camp," reports Bambridge. "In the New Year the Japanese Ship Export Association is to open shop in London --.!to be nearer its markets.! Tenders are going out not just for the Japanese staples, bulk carriers and tankers, but also for the fast cargo liners that until now have been largely a European preserve. The final British humiliation was to discover, three weeks ago, that P. and 0. -~ that most giltedged of our shipowners -- was able to place a tanker order in Britain only because of the saving on three other orders going to Japan."
The Shipbuilding Conference affirms that "It's no longer a question of Britain versus Sweden, but of all Europe against Japan. "
"Europe's shipbuilders have reason to be scared," adds Bam~ bridge, "Japanese prices are, on average, a staggering 20 per cent below those quoted by the Europeans, and Mr. Rex Sheppard, the ship-. builders! mouthplece, maintains that hardly a yard in Europe is mak~ ing a profit. Many are not even covering overheads. During 1964 ships totalling four million tons will have been built in Japan; British yards will have managed a mere one million tons."
Japants performance in shipbuilding represents only one facet of the recovery of Japanese capitalism from the devastation of World War II. A succinct summary of the main facts was published in the November 19 issue of the Paris biweekly Analyses et Documents .+
*analyses et Documents, 29 rue Descartes, Paris 5, Subscription for 20 issues to countries outside France, 36 francs.
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"Me Japanese economy has just experienced a new leap forward," the article begins, "There are now only 330,000 unemployed. Individual consumption has risen sharply. For example, the consump= tion of meat in the past ten years has gone up from 3-1/2 pounds annually to 12 pounds (in relation to the Western countries, however, this is still low)."
"In the Japanese steel industry,” the article continues, "a genuine miracle has occurred, After passing France in 1959 and. ‘the United Kingdom in 1961 and then stagnating in 1962, it has just gained in 1963.third place in the world, ahead of Germany.".
Analyses et Documents offers the following instructive table:
ST REL PRODUCTION. (in millions of tons)
1929 1938 1946 1955 1962 1963
(2,294 6,472 564 9,408 ° 27,546 31,500
CAST-IRON PRODUCTION (in millions of tons)
1,112 2,677 212 5,426 18,439 20,436
"this: is all the more remarkable since Japan imports 1g of its iron ore (unquestionably under favorable conditions in view of the deterioration in terms of exchange between manufactured products and raw materials). Thus the United States furnishes coal at a low price (in face of the threat of Ghinese competition), while Japan buys iron ore from the underdeveloped countries at a low price: 21,778,000 tons of ore, including 6,360,000 tons from Malaysia, 4, 420, 600 tons from india, 2,960, 000 tons from Chile, 2,450,000 tons from Peru and 1,450,000 tons from Canada,
"Since 1956, Japan has led the world in shipbuilding. Launch~ ing 28% of the world! s total tonnage in 1963 placed her far ahead of Western Germany and Great Britain. She ‘already possesses, in number of units, the fourth largest fleet. She is second in the world in the production of trucks and is moving ahead ceaselessly in the production .of automobiles, In the field of electronics and optics, Japan's. present position in quite remarkable, In 1963 she was the. world's top producer of television sets, the figure being 5,000,000. ‘The production of 15,000,,000.,transistors was enough to build mil lions.of transistor radio sets the same year, and she also stood in first place in still cameras | (2, 000,000) and movie cameras (700,000). Japan stands third in the’ ‘world in production of cement, and among the first five in fertilizer, paper, and petrochemicals. Her per capita production of synthetic fibers is 13.2 lbs., equal to Cer many and ahead of the United States."
The following figures, offered by Analyses et Documents, indicate the rate of growth:
INDEX OF INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION
1958 1962 1963
00 BOL 219
"In 1963 exports increased 10.8%; including ‘machines, 194, metals .and metal products, 27.4%. Imports increased 19, ae including food products, 46.9%, due primarily to sugar.
‘he reasons for this growth: first of all, Japan, after thé second world war, had to begin like Germany from zero; that is renew all the fixed capital, This permitted her to build a modern: industry (installations, machines, equipment), focused likewise on the technical level and particularly capable of meeting the international market. At the same time Japanese capitalism had at its disposal an enormous mass of labor, permitting it to bear down on wages and to maintain the rate of profit, In addition, Japanese monopoly capitalism benefited from the destruction of noncapitalist sectors, bringing it considerable income and a surplus of labor. Individual and agri-~ cultural enterprises which accounted in 1949 for 49% of the national income, in 1961 accounted for only 27% (as in France).
"Next, ‘it should not be forgotten that Japan, if it has nothing in common: with her underdeveloped Asian neighbors, does not have an exceptional standard of living, far from it. The average standard of living in France or even the north half of the Italian peninsula would justly appear luxurious to the Japanese worker. Capitalist expansion has profited from the rise in: productivity (9.4% last year), without: the labor movement being able‘to seriously contest capitalist ‘profits. There has even been a tendency to: ‘lower the share of wages in the national ‘income. .
"Nevertheless the Japanese economic growth can be put in question by the permanent deficit in the balance of trade, by inflation, which is: increasing in Japan, and by the dependence of the Japanese economy on American capitalism, In other words, a recession in the United States: could have very grave. repercussions for Japan. -
“However, the Japanese balance of payments is completely posi+ tive, the influx of American capital, the association of Japan in the American imperialist sphere and in the exploitation of ‘the underdeveloped countries -- all this works powerfully in favor of Japanese expansion, and it must not be believed that as long as the American boom lasts the. good health of _ Japanese capitalism will be seriously affected." |
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