Fiocchi, Norma Expand Ammo Ops in the U.S.

Announced in the same week, Beretta-owned Swedish-headquartered Norma is launching a $60 million/600-job factory project in Georgia while Italy’s Fiocchi is growing its operations in Arkansas with a $41.5 million/120-job ammo primer plant (which will be just one of six in the country).

It is easy to surmise that Americans want bullets and– as overseas car makers have long ago figured out– it is probably cheaper to make them here rather than to ship them here. This is especially true when you compare labor costs, say, in quasi-Socialist Italy and Sweden, against that in the non-unionized South where local incentives and tax breaks can help fund a start-up. Either way, you get more ammo options on the U.S. consumer market and (relatively) good-paying manufacturing jobs, both things that are easy to like.