(The Center Square) – North Carolina is providing a $100,000 grant to Japanese candy maker Morinaga as it launches a $136 million factory expansion in Orange County.
Famous for its HI-CHEW brand, Morinaga plans 204 jobs in Mebane, a release from the state Department of Commerce says.
“We aim to become a company that continues to grow here in North Carolina,” Masaki Matsumoto, senior executive officer and general manager of the company’s Overseas Business Division, said in a statement.
The state will award a $100,000 grant from the OneNC Fund which is contingent on an investment of at least $115.4 million and 40 jobs, the state said. Those jobs will average $67,075, which is higher than Orange County’s current average annual salary of $66,979, the state said.
The department justifies incentives based upon new jobs businesses will bring to the state, announcing the average hourly wage for the new jobs and comparing it to the median hourly wage of the county.
Economists question the effectiveness of financial incentives to private businesses to expand or come to a new state.
The use of hourly wage as an indicator is questioned because salaries of a few corporate leaders can skew the average higher while it would not have the same impact on the median wage.
“The OneNC Fund provides financial assistance to local governments to help attract economic investment and to create jobs,” the governor’s office said in a release. “Companies receive no money upfront and must meet job creation and capital investment targets to qualify for payment. All OneNC grants require a matching grant from local governments and any award is contingent upon that condition being met.”
Morinaga & Co., Ltd., founded in 1899, produces milk caramel, chocolate, cookies, and frozen desserts, the state said. Annual sales, or revenue, is up more than 7% to over $194 billion, according to published reports.
It located a factory in Mebane in 2015, the first outside of Asia, where it produces a fruity candy called HI-CHEW.
“Dramatically increased demand for the popular HI-CHEW candy led to the company’s expansion decision today, which will bring additional manufacturing space and production lines to the Orange County site,” a release says.
Toyota, Fujifilm Diosynth and Dai Nippon Print have plans for 4,379 jobs in the state, Gov. Roy Cooper said in a release.
“North Carolina continues to attract large investments from companies in Japan because we offer the advantages they look for,” Cooper said in a statement. “It was great to visit with Morinaga’s leadership when I was in Japan and it’s clear that the relationships we’ve made along with our great workforce, infrastructure and quality of life continue to bring good jobs to our state.”
Japan is now one of North Carolina’s largest overseas trading partners, with 225 companies having large operations in the state. In the last decade, the country has accountted for almost half of all direct foreign investments in North Carolina, the state said. In all, Japanese companies employ 30,500 people in North Carolina.