Chinese textile manufacture to invest $218 mn to establish its US operations

Keer Group, Chinese textile manufacturer and yarn spinner to invest $218 million to establish its U.S. operations, which will be named Keer America Corp., in Indian Land, S.C. The investment includes construction of a 230,000-square-foot manufacturing facility and the creation of 501 jobs to Lancaster County, South Carolina over the next five years.

The Keer Group is building its first facility outside China. But in exchange for bringing jobs to South Carolina, the company will pay less than half of the property tax rate and receive a 7.7 million dollar bond to help pay for construction.

The property tax rate for South Carolina manufacturers is 10.5 percent. The president of the Lancaster County Economic Development Corporation Keith Tunnell says that’s absurdly high.

If there was no fee agreement, there would be no project, Tunnell says. However, no company is going to locate in South Carolina and pay 10 and a half percent tax.

Tunnell says fee agreements are common in South Carolina. Manufacturers that invest more than $150 million and create more than 150 jobs can instead pay a 4 percent fee for 30 years.

For the Keer Group, that amounts to about $620,000 a year. In addition, the state is giving Keer Group a $4 million grant and Lancaster county is providing a $7.7 million bond to help pay for construction.

More than half of the annual fee that the company pays the county for the first 10 years will actually be returned to the Keer Group to help pay off the $7.7 million bond. The other 40 percent – about $250,000 a year — will go to the county and school district.

The 500 textile jobs will pay a starting wage of $13.50 an hour. That might sound like much, but it’s what Lancaster County needs, says Brent Lane, who studies incentives as a director of the center for Competitive Economies at UNC Chapel Hill.

Five hundred jobs that are a good fit for the current workforce and particularly for any workers who may not currently have jobs, is in many ways the best possible outcome.

Over the past 15 years, Lancaster County lost 11,000 textile jobs. And Lane says there’s a large base of low-skilled workers in the region. Company that employs the existing workforce with modest wages can have a larger economic impact than companies that import high-skilled workers and executives.

Keer Group will begin construction and hiring workers in the next few months. The plant is set to open in late 2014.

Recent Posts

University of Copenhagen develops nanofibre patch for psoriasis treatment

Researchers have created an innovative nanofibre patch that aims to simplify and improve the treatment of psoriasis, a common skin…

1 hour ago

Clothing 2.0, The Marena Group to revolutionize medical garments

Clothing 2.0 has teamed up with The Marena Group LLC, a leader in medical-grade compression garments to transform the recovery…

1 hour ago

Polartec expands eco-friendly weather protection fabrics

Polartec has enhanced its Power Shield range, as it continues to replace petroleum-based materials with renewable alternatives while improving fabric…

2 hours ago

Uncaged Innovations partners to launch leather alternative

Biomaterial company, Uncaged Innovations, has collaborated with ten independent fashion brands to launch Elevate, a new eco-friendly luxury leather alternative.

1 day ago

Rudolf enhances digital pigment printing

Rudolf introduced the Digital Pigment Printing Toolbox, a package of pre-treatment products to improve the quality and sustainability of pigment…

1 day ago

Aquafil Group unveils sustainable yarns

Aquafil Group, the innovator behind ECONYL regenerated nylon, has launched the ECONYL Bespoke Collection that mimic the aesthetics of natural…

1 day ago