Tire special protection cases that have attracted wide attention from all walks of life have not yet landed in dust, and the road for overseas Chinese auto parts companies has once again been blocked.
On August 14th, the EU’s anti-dumping measures for aluminum alloy wheels of China’s auto parts products were formally investigated at the EU Trade Commission. If the anti-dumping ruling is established after the investigation, the EU will impose a tariff of up to 33% on aluminum wheels exported to the European Union for five consecutive years.
According to data released by the Wheels Committee of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, there are 102 companies engaged in the production of aluminum alloy wheel hubs in China, and 46 of them are involved in this case. If tariffs are eventually imposed, these companies have to completely withdraw from the European market. "The EU's approach is likely to trigger a chain reaction in the United States, Japan, and other markets, and it will also have a huge impact on upstream companies such as electrolytic aluminum, paint, machine tools, packaging, and transportation," said Li Xiaoqing, Secretary General of the Wheel Committee of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. .
Plaintiff's lawsuit
On June 29, the European Wheel Manufacturers Association (EUWA) filed a complaint with the EU Trade Commission on behalf of six European aluminum wheel manufacturers to investigate the dumping behavior of China's export aluminum wheel enterprises. On August 14th, the European Union’s anti-dumping investigation on the aluminum alloy wheels of Chinese auto parts products was formally initiated in the EU Trade Commission.
The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers immediately held a press conference and said that the European Wheel Manufacturers Association (EUWA) applied for anti-dumping investigations on China's exports of EU aluminum alloy wheels without any reason.
Under the influence of the economic crisis, many countries launched anti-dumping lawsuits against China in order to protect their auto industry. The allegations in these lawsuits are nothing more than "China's export of parts and components has caused damage to local related industries, thus threatening local employment."
However, Chinese companies exporting aluminum wheels to the EU does not constitute dumping in essence, and the European Wheel Manufacturers Association is totally confused. In 2008, China produced a total of more than 70 million aluminum alloy wheels, of which half were sold to the international market. In terms of exports, Europe accounts for about 12% of total exports, the United States accounts for 70% to 80%, and the third largest export market is Japan. From July 2008 to June 2009, China's aluminum wheel products exported to the European Union totaled about 390 million U.S. dollars. The share of products in the entire EU market is about 8%, which is not a large proportion, nor will it Damage to related industries in Europe.
The products of European wheel hub companies are mainly used for supporting OEMs, while the Chinese wheel hub products are mainly for the aftermarket maintenance market. As the financial crisis caused European manufacturers to reduce their orders and European companies wanted to enter the aftermarket, they appealed the Chinese wheel hub products.
As China-made aluminum wheels have not caused direct damage to the European industry, six European wheel manufacturers submitting complaints have even deliberately evaded their names.
Behind anti-dumping
According to the relevant person of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, from the nature of the anti-dumping case, the anti-dumping application filed by the European Wheel Manufacturers Association is part of the poorly-operated aluminum alloy wheel manufacturers wanting to bring their own business management problems and the impact of the financial crisis on to Chinese companies. Passing behavior.
After the outbreak of the financial crisis, it has caused serious blows to global vehicle and component companies. Some auto parts exports have rebounded rapidly this year. The main reason is that some foreign auto parts companies have closed down. Even the surviving companies have increased their costs due to the reduction of orders. This has left Chinese companies with market space, which has also caused trade friction.
"Currently, European and American wheel companies have no advantage over Chinese companies. They have to use the name of anti-dumping to do trade protection." Xiong Chuanlin, deputy secretary-general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, said that multinational auto companies use parts and components globally. The policy is that many auto parts companies in the world are trying to seize the market with inexpensive Chinese parts and components. Some foreign manufacturers have to carry out “trade protectionism†under the banner of “anti-dumping†to gain living space.
Li Xiaoqing also pointed out that the wheel hub industry is a high-energy-consuming, labor-intensive, low-value-added industry. It is difficult for European and American developed countries with high labor costs to survive. This industry is shrinking in these areas, and it is an inevitable trend to shift to emerging markets. . The same is true for tires and other industries.
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Independent research and development
Tire special security cases and anti-dumping cases for aluminum alloy wheels are just the tip of the iceberg. Recently, due to various factors such as the economic downturn and the rising unemployment rate, the momentum of international trade protectionism keeps rising. According to the statistics of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, since the global financial crisis broke out, trade frictions have been increasing and trade protectionism has been on the rise. Anti-dumping lawsuits against China are characterized by a large number of countries and large amounts of money. From October last year to June this year, 77 have already occurred.
Even if there is no de facto "dumping" of domestic auto parts exports, the fate of being sanctioned is also in accordance with the current export strategy of parts and components companies - as long as some countries resort to anti-dumping lawsuits to raise trade protectionism. . It is understood that the domestic auto parts exports are mostly material-intensive, labor-intensive products such as wheels, brake discs, windshields, etc. The technical content and added value of products are low, and the lack of core technologies can easily trigger trade. dispute.
Therefore, the parts and components companies urgently need to upgrade the technological level of the exported products and increase the export of high value-added products.
Prof. Zhang Weiying, assistant president of Peking University and Dean of the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University, pointed out in a speech delivered at the 26th Cultural Forum of the Liberation Daily Newspaper Group that an important challenge for China’s economic growth is the ability of Chinese companies to innovate. Too low. In the past 30 years, we mainly supported the expansion of assets by relying on cheap cost and cheap resources. However, after the global financial crisis, we also saw that this model cannot continue. If the old people continue to do so, the crisis will become even more serious. Then how to do? It is necessary to improve the ability to create additional value, which depends on technological progress, especially research and development. However, we also regret to see that our company has not done enough in this area and technological innovation is still weak. If we only repeat what developed countries have made in the past, even if we have become the world’s number one, it is not the most powerful.
Zhang Weiying’s view also applies to the auto parts industry. Gasgoo.com recently surveyed 183 local auto parts companies and found that 89% of companies said they would not engage in independent development and there is no plan for independent development in the near future. China's auto parts do not weigh heavily on heavy output, and heavy production does not emphasize research and development. Some companies have large factories but do not have special research and development centers.
This phenomenon is worth pondering, and it should also attract the attention of parts and components companies. At present, domestic auto parts and components have already “go globalâ€. Under the current industrial structure, the products we can produce are of high price competitiveness, but they do not possess technological competitive advantages or irreplaceable advantages. Upgrade "with no delay".
How to Break Out of Parts Enterprises
Recent events have reflected some shortcomings of parts and components companies. Industry insiders put forward suggestions for parts and components companies from three aspects: "market, brand, and industry integration."
First of all, China's spare parts should actively develop marketing networks. The current export structure is relatively monotonous. Once a problem arises, our losses will be great. The parts and components companies should implement technological upgrading and strive to open up the domestic high-end market. Parts of self-owned brands are half as cheap as joint ventures and have obvious cost advantages. If the technology is further improved, it will have the strength to compete with the joint venture brand. Secondly, it is imperative to create a "brand", and the low gold content of product brands has restricted the development of auto parts companies. At present, more than 80% of China's auto parts exports still remain in the aftermarket maintenance market, and only a few enter the global market.
In addition, the rectification and integration of the auto parts industry are imminent. Nowadays, the parts companies are small and miscellaneous, often seeing which markets are good, they will enter the market and quickly expand their market share. In order to seize the market, they often start vicious competition with price wars and continue to cause trade disputes internationally. In the future, domestic parts and components companies should be integrated and have the scale of grouping to obtain the strength to compete with the joint venture brands.
In the face of various shortcomings of trade protection and the Chinese auto parts industry itself, Xiong Chuanlin, executive deputy secretary-general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, pointed out that when the Chinese auto industry has grown to its current scale, it has been unable to achieve sustained success by relying solely on cheap labor and cheap raw materials. . For the Chinese auto industry, especially the parts and components industry, if we want to take a place in the world market, we must carry out technological innovation and increase the added value of the products.
HENAN MAJOR INDUSTRIES IMP. & EXP. CO., LTD. , https://www.henanminingcrane.com