Japan govt to pay at least $536 million for companies to leave China

Japan’s government will start paying its firms to move factories out of China and back home or to Southeast Asia, part of a new program to secure supply chains and reduce dependence on manufacturing in China.

Fifty-seven companies including privately-held facemask-maker Iris Ohyama and Sharp will receive a total of 57.4 billion yen ($536 million) in subsidies from the government, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Friday. Another 30 firms will receive money to move manufacturing to Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand and other Southeast Asian nations, according to a separate announcement, which didn’t provide details on the amount of compensation.

The government will pay a total of 70 billion yen in this round, the Nikkei newspaper reported. The payments come from 243.5 billion yen that the government earmarked in April to reduce reliance on Chinese supply chains, with the money aimed at helping companies shift factories back home or to other nations.

As US-China relations deteriorate and the trade war worsens, there’s been increasing discussions in the US and elsewhere about how to “decouple" economies and firms from China. bloomberg