The Town Talk from Alexandria, Louisiana • Page 12

esushmess B-6 Tuesday, September 6, 1994 Bails tToica Calk Briefs Companies criticized for exporting jobs Cutting at home; expanding abroad Examples of U.S. companies that are cutting domestic production and expanding abroad. Expanding Abroad Expansion: Investing $20 mlkon to buM )Ort venture tissue factory in Shanghai. China that vi employ 200. Cutting Back Scott Paper Co.

Leslie Fay Inc. vl By Jeffery Hoffman AP Business Writer When Scott Paper Co. announced a major joint venture in China, the company characterized it as a shrewd expansion in a promising foreign market. A few days earlier. Scott had accelerated a drastic cutback at home.

To some in organized labor. Scott's moves in early August made the company look like a heartless profit grubber, joining a parade of American businesses ranging from clothiers to tool-makers that have dumped thousands of U.S. jobs while heading for fast growing countries overseas. "(Companies) can come up with all sorts of rationalizations, but this is in fact exporting of jobs." said Mark Roberts, an AFlrCIO economist. This is happening throughout the U.S.A.

We're very much concerned about it." American executives and a number of economists say that view is distorted and simplistic. They argue that to survive In an increasingly competitive global economy and maintain jobs at home companies must produce and market wherever it's most profitable. The issue isn't new it became the focus of debate over the North American Free Trade Agreement last year, for example. Labor unions feared the pact would draw thousands of U.S. companies to Mexico, where some workers toil for 20 cents an new plant in Owensboro.

for instance. Expanding in China is "not taking away from anything here, it's actually a global extension of the company." he "It's good for our American workers. The stronger we can be, the more we have available for reinvestment" Further, just as Scott's investment plans are global, so are its layoffs. Only about one-third of the 10,500 job cuts this year are in the United States. "It wasn't let's cut back in the United States and export (products) back'," said Dunlap.

"We cut back in Mexico, in Canada, in Europe, in Asia. In our case, that argument doesn't work." The argument works in other cases, however. The textile and electronics industries have slashed U.S. production over the past three decades, moving their manufacturing to lower-wage Asian and Latin American countries. Leslie Fay strike Leslie Fay, a large apparel maker, earlier this year decided to shutter four of its last five U.S.

plants and cut 1,050 jobs, inciting a 40-day strike. The company, which already was making most clothes abroad, said it couldn't afford to run the American factories. "We're trying to save a company," Leslie Fay president Michael Babcock said at the time. "This is not something new. In fact, the whole industry today manufactures offshore." off, but you become poorer." Others say businesses that expand overseas aren't necessarily just trying to cut labor costs.

They could be simply trying to placate foreign governments, or get closer to foreign consumers. Aircraft maker Boeing for example, often must strike deals to procure parts and transfer manufacturing technology abroad to win orders for finished jets from foreign government run airlines. "You have to look at each industry individually." said Robert Z. Aliber. a professor at the University of Chicago's business school.

Scott in Shanghai For makers of basic consumer products like Scott which is building a new factory near Shanghai as part of a $20 million investment plan selling in a foreign market usually requires local production. It isn't profitable to export toilet paper or tooth paste from American factories. "Our product is very bulky, it doesn't lend itself to shipping." Scott chief executive officer Albert J. Dunlap said in an interview. "If we're going to be in China, we have to have manufacturing facilities there." Dunlap, a former top aide to 1980s corporate takeover investor Sir James Goldsmith, denied the Philadelphia-based company is cutting at home to expand overseas.

He said Scott, which is cutting some older facilities as part of its restructuring, is building a Expansion: Hiring foreign manufacturers to i manufacture clothes in I existing plants overseas jTSZr nclud.ng those in China. W-! Caribbean. South America. L.y Expansion: Nabisco Foods i unit has invested more than jLZ $100 million in Mexico since cTtrL. 1992.

including a $25 million v1 plant in Monterrey. i Xerox Corp Source: Companies hour. NAFTA supporters said the Dact would create American iobs by strengthening Mexico's economy. The question of job exporting also has arisen in American trade negotiations with Japan and the European Union. "Every country worries about this," said David Vogel, a La.

rice harvests up; most will go into silos FigMimg hunger Tl 1, tt i armers manteis sen taste 01 summer Bail underwriters The Association of Louisiana Bail Underwriters will hold a Continuing Education course from 7:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. Sept. 7 at Holiday Inn on MacArthur Dr. The course will provide information on the bail industry and is available for accreditation of bail bonds licenses.

The course will be offered for eight credits and will cost $15 per hour for ALBU members and $20 per hour for non members. A $10 processing fee will be charged for anyone not preregis-tered. For registration or additional information, contact Mark Herbert or Sheri Weinar at (504)343 2776. Beef Field Day ROSEPINE The Beef and Forage Field Day will be held at the Rosepine Research Station on Sept. 8.

The program begins at 3:30 p.m. with registration. Field tours that follow include: Bermuda and Bahiagrass for pastures and hay; summer-weaned heifers grazing Bermuda grass; summer legumes for west Louisiana pastures; and ryegrass grazing of steers on prepared seedbed vs. sodseed pastures. Farm labor meeting FRESNO.

Calif. (AP) The United Farm Workers is enjoying swelling membership rolls and increased representation, organizers said at the union's 12th national convention, the first since founder Cesar Chavez died. The union has signed 10,000 new members this year and won seven union representation elections, the latest on Friday, he said. Chavez died in April 1993. Paralegal meeting NATCHITOCHES The ninth annual meeting of the Louisiana State Paralegal Association will be held Friday and Saturday in Natchitoches.

Gov. Edwin Edwards has proclaimed this week as Paralegal Week. Rural Medicare pay WASHINGTON (AP) The federal government will increase payment rates for Medicare patients in rural hospitals by 4.7 percent beginning Oct. 1, the Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday. Payments to urban hospitals will rise by 1.5 percent.

Congress originally mandated different base rates for rural and urban hospitals, but later ordered that separate rates should be abolished beginning in fiscal 1995. The rate increases will go to approximately 5,200 hospitals, including 2,300 rural and 2,900 urban. Medicare paid $75 billion to inpatient hospitals providing acute, short-term care in fiscal 1993. Farm trade surplus WASHINGTON (AP) Falling to the lowest point so far this year, the June agricultural trade surplus totaled $1.1 billion, the Agriculture Department says. However, the month's surplus still outpaced June 1993 by $10 million.

The cumulative surplus so far for fiscal 1994, which began in October, was $13.5 billion, down 7 percent from the same period the year before. Due to increased demand in Asian countries, beef exports for the fiscal year so far are up 7 percent, even though the value of June shipments decreased from the previous month. Corn climbed to 2.2 million tons during the month, a rise over May. At 25 million tons, the total for fiscal 1994 lags behind the previous year by 26 percent. Although Japan bought 783,000 tons, this was the lowest level of purchase for that country since 1986.

Other major importers included Taiwan and Mexico. Following a six-month trend, soybean exports again fell in June, down 3 percent from May to 728,000 tons. The cumulative exports for the year to date total 13.6 million tons, 23 percent lower than 1993. Cedit program A nationwide credit program was made available recently to help satisfy a small business need for short-term working capital, said Erskine Bowles, U.S. Small Business Administration Administrator.

The program, Greenline Revolving Line of Credit, provides SBA guarantees on lines of credit extended for up to five years. Under the program, SBA can provide guarantees of up to 75 percent on revolving credit lines up to $1 million to small businesses that otherwise cannot get such financing. WELSH (AP) Louisiana farmers are expected to harvest more rice this year than ever before, but most of their crop is going into silos. For instance, Donald Berken of Welsh expects his 700 acres to bring in about 30 barrels 4,860 pounds of rice per acre. "I've sold about 25 percent of it.

I'm hanging onto the other 75 percent for the time being, hopefully to get a better price," he said. In general, farmers have planted more land in rice and are harvesting a bit more and a bit better rice than usual, but prices started off below expectations, Blake Fontenot of the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation said. "It looks like everybody's storing and are going to continue to store until the market meets those expectations and needs," he said. More imports allowed Farmers planted 635,000 acres of rice, up 90,000 from last year, because Japan decided last year to allow more rice imports. Better planting and growing weather is expected to increase the average yield from 4,550 pounds per acre to 4,650 pounds, for a record statewide harvest of 2.95 billion pounds.

That would be about 100 million pounds above the record set in 1992, when the yield was also 4,650 pounds but less was planted. Both increases reflect increases nationwide: a 17 percent increase in harvested area and a 3 percent increase in yield are expected to bring production to a record 188 million hundredweight. Prices are up from this time last year but last year's prices were very low until a poor harvest forced Japan to import 2.3 million tons. That, in turn, pushed prices up to $8.25 to $8.45 per hundredweight for U.S. rice.

APWm CasteDo University of California business professor who studies multinational corporations. "The global economy means that in addition to importing and exporting goods, you're importing and exporting jobs," he said. "If you want to be part of the global economy, you have to accept this. You can cut yourself finds that yes, she likes it and her child likes it, then we have a benefit there that is far-reaching. Food stamps niche Because she will purchase that again with her food stamps or cash she may use at the grocery store outside of the growing season," Ms.

Winfree said. Agriculture officials say the markets likely won't ever be more than an industry niche. And they have problems, such as the food stamp program's movement from paper vouchers to plastic cards. Many markets don't have the phone lines or electricity needed to use the credit cards, Ms. Fitzgerald said.

But supporters say the advantages can be seen at a market in the South Bronx, where ruddy-cheeked farmers from Long Island and upstate New York rub elbows with city dwellers, exchanging recipes and nutritional information with people who may be far removed from agricultural lifestyles. "It's wild. Its sort of the quintessential farmer's market scene. We have an Amish farmer from Pennsylvania selling all kinds of fruits and vegetables, and he's also selling baked goods, interacting with all the folks in the Bronx -Hispanic, African-American, Asian," said Winne, who helped establish the market. Associated Press Margarita Ortis (center) helps a customer with produce at the farmers' market in Dallas.

When farmers' markets began a resurgance in the 1 980s, they were often a place affluent, suburban consumers went to get fresh, high-quality loca produce. Now the markets have a role in fighting hunger. DALLAS (AP) At the downtown farmers' market, Little John's Plants and Produce sells staples like new potatoes and cucumbers and the unusual, like spiky bunches of red and green poinsettia peppers and members of the extended eggplant family white, black beauty and a variety called little fingers. There's also the unexpected -a hand-lettered sign over the bounty proclaiming "food stamps accepted." Little John's collects about $700 in food stamps the first week of each month, nearly one-quarter of its total sales, said David Kane, who works there for his uncle. When farmers' markets began a resurgence in the 1980s, they were often a place affluent, suburban consumers went to get fresh, high-quality local produce.

Now the markets have a growing role in fighting hunger. "It's an institution whose time was and whose time has come again," said Robert A. Lewis, chief marketing representative of the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets. Those involved in farmers' markets give much credit for the growth to a federal nutrition program that gives a few dollars in market coupons to needy women and children. Twenty-six states and territories now participate in the WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program.

Coupon recipients The coupons are for children under age 5 and pregnant or nursing mothers who qualify for aid under the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC, a Department of Agriculture initiative. The program has helped farmers' markets grow in rural areas and the inner city, where residents may lack access to fresh produce because supermarkets have shut down. "There's no doubt that the farmers' market nutrition program has been very valuable to the growth of fanners' markets nationally, and especially in locations where markets might not succeed initially," said Lewis. "Farmers' markets really got rediscovered in the '80s as a sort of novelty thing. But what's been evolving over the last several years, both as the interest in whole foods, natural foods, fresh produce has spread throughout our population," said Kate Fitzgerald, executive director of the non-profit Sustainable Food Center in Austin.

Better food cheaper "It makes sense to the consumer because they can buy better food cheaper. It makes sense to the farmer because they can make more money," she said. In Texas, the number of farmers' markets grew from 74 to 92 in the last year, according to the state agriculture department. In Connecticut, one of the first states to get involved in farmers' market nutrition Louisiana farmers don't grow the short-grain rice favored in Japan, but sales from other states and countries to Japan increased the market in those places. Louisiana farmers got little of that, Fontenot said.

"Most farmers had sold early. Therefore, they missed out on the high prices." On Aug. 30, 1993, long-grain rice was selling for about $4.79 per hundredweight, and medium-grain rice for $5.23 a hundredweight, Fontenot said. Prices Tuesday were $6.50 for long grain and $7 for medium grain. "They're hoping for $7.50 a hundred," Fontenot said.

"With enough government assistance, at $7.50 a hundredweight on up, the farmer can survive." Japan is expected to import only 400,000 tons this year, but overall U.S. exports are expected to rise 2 percent. Moreover, Japan's crop won't be in until September or October, Berken noted. In addition, Fontenot said, Typhoon Fred and drought have hurt crops in China and Taiwan. "This year, their strategy is not to sell so much so early and see what's likely to happen in the Far East," Fontenot said.

The typhoon damaged 741,000 acres of land, and the Chinese government has estimated that 44 million acres are damaged by drought. Few problems Not all Louisiana farmers had a good year. From Jefferson Davis Parish to the west and south, Louisiana had problems with a fungus disease called rice blast, said Joe Musick, director of the LSU Rice Experiment Station in Crowley. Rice blast was a major cause of Japan's rice failure, Japanese rice scientist Teruyoshi Hashiba told Arkansas researchers last week. for upturn orders, although Pierson boasted that his group has cornered 55 percent of the market for business already announced this year.

Boeing was quick to denounce the claim. "I remember seven or eight months last year when we had 100 percent of the market and we didn't go around talking about it," Woodard said. "Airbus is talking about a very short time in the world's worst year for orders." Others in the industry seemed less worried about publicly quarreling than in figuring out when their dismal business might get better. Widespread consolidation of defense industries hasn't helped. Ever since Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 pushed fuel prices higher and the world slipped into recession, some airlines have gone broke while the rest have bled billions and been forced to cut airplane orders.

Industry executives predict the global airline industry can turn a small profit overall this year, but it will take more than that to have airlines clamoring for more planes. Aircraft makers waring programs, there were 15 markets in 1987 and 43 today, said Mark Winne, director of the Hartford Food System in Hartford, Conn. And in New York, there were six farmers' markets in 1970 and 175 now, Lewis said. An estimated farmers' markets nationwide now sell fresh produce while nurturing a sense of community, from the South Bronx to Espanola, N.M., from South Central Los Angeles to the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Repeat customers Snellnut Bros.

Produce in Sherman, Texas, an open shed beside the town's main highway, gets FMNP coupons daily and turns many of the bearers into repeat customers, said Ben Shellnut, one of the brothers whose family owns the business and farm in Edgewood. About $7.8 million in food stamps were used in fiscal 1993 at Texas produce stands and farmers' markets. In addition, $1.1 million in Farmers' Market Nutrition Program coupons per recipient were redeemed at 38 authorized Texas markets, said Mary Alice Winfree, a WIC expert at the Texas Department of Health Bureau of Nutrition Services. "Ten dollars may sound like a small amount. But if that mom has tried, say, maybe acorn squash, something that she has never tried before, and as they wait FARNBOROUGH, England (AP) The world's aircraft makers keep wondering when business might take off again.

Although the battered airline industry is showing feeble signs of life, aviation executives gathering Monday for the Farnborough International '94 air show say it will be a few years at least before they can expect the upturn to help them. "We expect to see airplane orders and deliveries recover during the second half of the 1990s," said Ron Woodard, president of the Boeing Commercial Airplane Group. "The end of the current downturn as far as the manufacturers are concerned will be signaled by customer requests to accelerate deliveries. That hasn't happened yet." At least things aren't as bad as they were last year, Airbus Industrie chief Jean Pierson said under the rumble of combat jets performing wild maneuvers. "At the end of August we had 76 new orders and we had only 52 cancellations," Pierson said.

Airbus was apparently putting off until at least Tuesday any announcements of new airplane.