The ceramic industry moves in a bid to upgrade the entire industry chain

The representative of the National Assembly of the South-North Link, Liang Yaowen, Director of the Provincial Foreign Economic Relations Agency:

The Guangdong export growth model did not fundamentally change. At the Fifth Session of the 11th National People's Congress, which was opened on the 5th, Premier Wen Jiabao stated in his government work report that China’s GDP growth target for this year is 7.5%.

The purpose of lowering the growth rate is to better transform the mode of development. As Guangdong, the largest import and export province, how to accelerate the transformation and upgrading of foreign trade and economic cooperation has naturally become the focus of discussion among delegates.

In an interview with the Nanfang Daily reporter, Liang Yaowen, the representative of the National Department of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, pointed out: “Although Guangdong's total import and export volume still ranks first in the country, foreign trade relies on low-cost expansion and price competition for extensive export growth. The model has not changed fundamentally."

Liang Yaowen stated that in recent years, Guangdong’s industrial restructuring and upgrading has achieved remarkable results, but Guangdong enterprises’ incompetent innovation capabilities, serious homogeneity of products, lack of overseas marketing services, weak core competitiveness, and deep-seated conflicts in the foreign trade companies’ business environment need to be improved. The problem has not been fundamentally resolved.

In January of this year, Guangdong's foreign trade import and export data can be described as worrying: In January, trade import and export decreased by 16.7% compared with the same period in 2011, of which exports dropped by 9.2%!

Liang Yaowen said that although there are Spring Festival factors, it is undeniable that since the global financial crisis, European and American market demand has decreased, the exchange rate has risen, raw material prices have fluctuated, costs have continued to expand, and downward pressure on export growth has continued to increase. This makes the problem of the weak competitiveness of our country's foreign trade exports more prominent.

The reporter’s notes on the industrial upgrading of the government should play a role in seven prefecture-level cities and nine demonstration and development bases for the transformation and upgrading of foreign trade industries. During this nine-day survey, one issue has been lingering in our minds: the process of industrial transformation and upgrading. What role should the government play?

Guangzhou City has been awarded four provincial demonstration bases for transformation and upgrading of foreign trade, but Li Yongtao, deputy inspector of the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, in an interview with reporters, stressed that the cultivation of demonstration bases should focus on the principle of “classification guidance”. As for the lack of brand bottleneck in Shiling Leather Base, the government has promoted Shiling leather goods companies to register trademarks at home and abroad, creating a regional brand of “China Leather Capital”. The Panyu jewelry base, the most crucial element in the production and export of jewellery, is high-qualified testing and efficient and convenient customs clearance. The local government actively coordinates related functional departments to bases and provides “one-stop” services...

In fact, what the government needs to do is to build a good public service platform to provide businesses with a convenient business environment so that enterprises can fight against the sky in the storm and cultivate their growth.

At present, there are three bases in Foshan, including Foshan architectural ceramics, Zhanjiang aquatic products, and Chaozhou ceramics, which have been declared and recognized as national demonstration bases for transformation and upgrading of foreign trade. Huadu Shiling leather and other 27 industrial clusters have been identified as provincial-level foreign trade. Transformation and upgrading of professional demonstration bases.

So, whether these professional demonstration bases for transformation and upgrading of foreign trade can transform and upgrade the traditional industries dominated by out-of-oriented industries in Guangdong, and explore a new transformation path for industrial clusters? Does this "clustering" mode derive from "cluster research and development", "clustering and branding," "bunching to open up markets," or even "bundling in response to trade barriers"?

On the eve of ****, the Nanfang Daily reporter conducted in-depth research on the transformation and upgrading demonstration bases for foreign trade in the Pearl River Delta, and in the eastern and western parts of Guangdong, and tapped the new mode of "all industrial chain upgrading" behind these industrial clusters.

Baotuan R&D and Technology Opening Drives the Overall Productivity of the Industry This year, when the news of “labor shortage” was frequently heard across the Pearl River Delta, Dalang’s wool sweater town with an output value of over 38 billion yuan was particularly calm. As early as a few years ago, there was an upsurge in the introduction of numerical control weaving machines instead of labor and automation of the industry.

The mayor of Dalang Town, Xie Jinbo, gave an account to the Nanfang Daily reporter: At present, the town’s enterprises use nearly 20,000 CNC looms and save more than 80,000 laborers.

This round of productivity upgrade even promoted the emergence of a new industry: There are now a total of 30 CNC looms manufacturing companies settled in Dalang, producing more than 3,500 CNC looms; 80 domestic and foreign brands of CNC loom have set up sales offices in their bases. , Annual sales of CNC looms nearly 50,000 units. Unconsciously, Dalang actually sold distribution centers from wool textiles and became China's largest CNC machine looms distribution base.

However, Dalang’s success is by no means limited to using machines instead of manpower. Into the China (Dalang) wool textile product research and development center, you can understand the latest trends in the international wool textile market, you can see the display of new materials, new processes, you can also look for design and development services; to cultivate the wool industry Dalang Vocational High School, which is mainly talent-based, provides more than 300 professional and technical talents for enterprises each year. The regular Maoji Industry Analysis Society will also study and solve the problems encountered in the development of industrial clusters.

The reporters found that such a public R&D platform not only minimizes the R&D investment of the company, but also allows the R&D results to benefit the entire industry to the greatest extent and enhance the level of the entire industry cluster.

In Chaozhou, the Chaozhou Ceramics Research Institute is fully open to local enterprises. From equipment resources, technology to talents, companies can receive support and assistance. In addition to testing and analysis of corporate products, the Institute will also provide solutions for enterprises and implement "diagnostic" services.

Xu Yezhen, president of the Chaozhou Ceramics Research Institute, told the reporter: “There are several thousand ceramic enterprises in Chaozhou City. These enterprises are almost always production-oriented. Although in recent years many key enterprises have established their own research labs, most of them are based on The main product innovation is design, and for the technical problems encountered in the production process, it is necessary to find an authoritative technical department to help solve the problem.If there is no an authoritative technical department in the local area to provide technical consulting and services for the company, the company will seek to go far to the foreign production area. In consultation, this is somewhat incompatible with 'China porcelain capital'."

Similarly, in Yangjiang, Li Jihui, general manager of Yangjiang Eighteen Group Co., Ltd., a leading local company, introduced that, in order to enhance its competitiveness in the international market, the 18 subgroups proceeded to the upstream of the industrial chain, breaking the transformation and upgrading of raw materials, and investing 1.5 yuan. Billion has established its own upstream steel plant and developed new steel grades, which have greatly improved product quality. This steel mill also provides commissioned processing services for other companies in Yangjiang.

“At present, the price of many of the 18 tool products is basically the same as that of the international first-line brands, and our upgrade has also led to the upgrading of the entire industry.” Li Jihui said.

Baotuan “Going to the Sea” emphasized that regional brands and then cultivate their own brands in Chenghai District, Shantou City, the district’s executive deputy mayor Huang Changxin used this sentence to introduce the country’s largest industrial toy production base to reporters: “China Toys look Guangdong, Guangdong toys look Chenghai."

At present, there are about 15,000 companies engaged in the production of toys, gifts and related products. Chenghai employs more than 200,000 people. Last year, the annual value of toy and gift industry was 23.9 billion yuan, of which 70% were exported and accounted for 20% of the national toy export volume.

What surprises reporters is that in addition to hosting the annual China Chenghai International Toys and Gifts Fair, organizing companies to participate in the Canton Fair, the Shanghai Toy Fair, the Nuremberg Toy Fair, the Hong Kong Toy Fair and other major exhibitions, Chenghai Toys even in the UAE Dubai established its own "bridgehead."

Huang Changxin introduced that the Chenghai Toys (Dubai) Exhibition Center, which began operations at the end of 2000, has received 1,000 professional customers from 18 countries in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Africa in just one year, and has represented more than 500 companies in Chenghai. A total of 15 million US dollars.

The investment center of the exhibition center and the person in charge of Chenghai District Yanyangchun Trading Co., Ltd. told the reporter that with this exhibition center, customers can directly select products for negotiation and ordering in the exhibition hall. The center organizes a large-scale product promotion conference each year for buyers. And cooperative companies provide direct communication opportunities.

Also trying to build a regional brand is "China Leather Capital," Shiling Town, Huadu District, Guangzhou. Walking in the streets and alleys of Shiling Town, propaganda notices for Shiling Leather Goods can be seen everywhere.

Interestingly, Huang Zhisheng, president of the Guangdong Leather Industry Association, told reporters that even local villages, through the unification of production standards, have introduced “regional brands” based on villages to help small and medium-sized enterprises expand their markets.

“Building a regional brand building is only the first step for a company to establish its own brand.” Huang Zhisheng said that after more than 10 years of development in Huadu Shiling, the reputation of regional brands is relatively loud, and relatively speaking, the time required for enterprises to establish their own brands Is longer. However, on the basis of regional brands, as long as the enterprises do a good job in production management and product sales, it will be much easier to build their own brands.

Baotui responded to set up an industry alliance to respond to anti-dumping. Before accepting an interview with the reporter, Huang Zhenhao, consultant and assistant to the president of Chaozhou Ceramic Industry Association, had just withdrawn from the anti-dumping case in the EU.

Just last month on the 16th, the European Commission issued an announcement to conduct anti-dumping investigations on ceramic kitchen utensils originating in China. According to statistics from the Guangdong Fair Trade Bureau, there are as many as 133 enterprises exporting ceramic kitchen utensils worth over US$750,000 to the EU. The companies involved are located in Guangzhou, Zhuhai, Meizhou, Dongguan, Zhanjiang, Yangjiang and other cities. The "disaster area" was concentrated in Chaozhou.

Huang Zhenhao told reporters that the European Union’s move has caused a great impact on exports of ceramics for daily use to 1/3 of the country's Chaozhou, and will affect 204 local companies. "At present, these enterprises have led the Anti-dumping Coalition under the lead of the Ceramics Association.

In order to respond to the EU's anti-dumping investigation, the coalition specifically invited legal experts from Beijing to conduct response training for enterprises, keep up to date with the latest developments, and mobilize companies to actively participate in anti-dumping responding and defense without damage.

In recent years, frequent trade barriers have become an important factor affecting the export of Guangdong's foreign trade enterprises. The EU's anti-dumping investigation on Chinese ceramic kitchen utensils is not difficult to remind people of last year, the EU made anti-dumping decisions on building ceramics from China and decided to impose a general punitive tax rate of 73%.

Affected by this, the number of Chinese exports of EU tiles dropped significantly in 2011, especially in Foshan, which is the main exporter of building ceramics, and exports of building ceramics to the EU dropped by about 30%.

Because of this, the enthusiasm of enterprises to deal with trade barriers has been unprecedentedly stimulated. Huang Zhenhao said that several years ago Egypt launched anti-dumping measures against Chinese ceramics for daily use, and industry associations had also started to respond to enterprises, but the response was irritating. “Because the market in Egypt is too small, companies would rather give up. But this time it is different, the EU market is the bulk, moving to the root of the company.”

Zhanjiang Guolian Aquatic Development Co., Ltd. is in the battle against trade barriers, "a famous fight." In early 2004, the United States filed anti-dumping lawsuits against six shrimp products, including China, and the United States Department of Commerce appointed four shrimp exporting companies such as Guolian Aquatic Products as mandatory investigation targets. However, relying on standardized and large-scale raw material production bases and advanced enterprise management systems, Guolian finally won the “zero tariff” and became one of the only two zero-tariff companies in the world to import frozen shrimp.