Standard intensive introduction of rubber industry structure needs adjustment

Recently, the National Standardization Committee approved a number of national standards, of which seven involved the rubber industry. The introduction of the “Rubber Products Industrial Pollutant Discharge Standard” will set specific requirements for the control and detection of pollutants in the production of rubber products, and promote the transition of the rubber industry to energy conservation and environmental protection.

It is understood that since 2002, the use of natural rubber in China has surpassed the United States, ranking first in the world. However, the domestic production of natural rubber is stretched and the contradiction between supply and demand is very prominent. In 2011, domestic natural rubber production was 700,000 tons, while actual industrial consumption was 3.2 million tons. In fact, since 2008, China's natural rubber imports have been increasing year by year.

"From the raw material point of view, natural rubber accounted for 80% of the annual consumption, which is obviously unbalanced." Analysts said. Excessive dependence on raw materials will inevitably lead to the restraint of China's rubber industry. Under the background of industrial energy conservation, efforts to develop the synthetic rubber and reclaimed rubber industries is a wise move to improve the industrial layout.

In the same way, recycled rubber, the third largest rubber source in China, cannot be ignored.

The development of the reclaimed rubber industry is in urgent need of solving technical problems. At present, most domestic companies introduce foreign elimination technologies and equipment. Taking Wenzhou as an example, more than 85% of enterprises purchase equipment from Japan in the 1980s, and most of the business deals with the production of plastic tires from waste tires. The phenomenon of low-level repeated construction is widespread, and product homogeneity is very serious. Therefore, despite the low proportion of recycled rubber in China, there has been a relative overcapacity.

In 2011, the price of international rubber fluctuates frequently and has a relatively large margin, which has brought a considerable impact on the Chinese rubber industry. The output, output value, and export value all fell in different ranges, failing to reach the 7% expected target; at the same time, under the influence of factors such as the increase in raw material prices and labor costs, the domestic enterprises slowed their growth rate, and the amount of profit dropped sharply. These all reflect many problems in China's rubber industry.

"The rubber industry must take the path of sound development, we must start from the adjustment of the industry structure, especially product quality." Experts said. He believes that some small and micro enterprises with low cost control ability will be eliminated, and some enterprises with stronger cost control ability will be bigger and stronger by taking the innovation path.

"Planning" pointed out that by 2015 China will focus on research and development of special rubber and high-end rubber products. In fact, product innovation has always been a shortcoming of China's rubber industry, especially high-end products. It is understood that at present, 73% of the domestic rubber industry's exports are generic products with lower prices; tires with domestic exports accounting for more than 40% have not performed well in the European market, and more than 30% of tire products have not yet met the first phase of the EU Standards, 50% do not meet the requirements of the second phase of the EU; high-end products such as rubber seals due to technical threshold is too high, domestic companies do not enter much, and the downstream demand is growing.

Since the beginning of 2012, natural rubber prices have continued to heat up, and futures prices have increased from 23,000 to 24,000 yuan at the beginning of the year to nearly 30,000 yuan now, and spot prices have also approached 30,000 yuan from 26,000 to 27,000 yuan.

It is understood that starting from 2010, China's import tariff on natural rubber is adjusted to 20% or 2,000 yuan / ton (both from low). Taking 2011 as an example, the total amount of natural rubber imports in the year was about 2.1 million tons, and the total import amount was as high as 938 million US dollars. According to the ad valorem tariff, the tariff was 5610 yuan per ton, and companies could not digest such a large cost.

"On the one hand, there is a shortage of domestic supply. On the one hand, there is a high cost limit. The Chinese rubber industry actually faces double pressure." Analysis of experts.

"In the long run, the state should introduce encouraging policies to encourage domestic companies to go global and invest in overseas natural rubber planting or processing, which will ease the shortage of China's natural rubber resources," analysts believe. It is reported that Hainan Rubber recently signed an M&A agreement with Singapore R1, and the Chinese rubber industry has begun to deploy overseas markets.