Reflection on the special case of tire protection: how does a small tire become a "big piece"?

If September 11th of 2001 left the United States in a shadow, then the "911" after eight years will leave the Chinese auto tire industry in shadow. On September 11, 2009, US President Barack Obama ruled that China's tire protection program triggered a strong rebound in the tire industry. When the rest of the world also wants to wield the “anti-dumping” banner, annual export volume accounts for more than 40% of total output. The Chinese tire industry has only two ways: First, it will attack domestic demand; Second, with the support of the Chinese government, it will resolutely fight back.” protectionism".

The latest news is that the Ministry of Commerce has commissioned relevant agencies to conduct relevant investigations on imported cars produced in the United States, and the US-produced cars that are investigated for investigation are mainly vehicles. It is expected that the relevant investigation will be completed before the end of September. Once the dumping and subsidy activities are confirmed, the Ministry of Commerce will announce the punitive measures at the earliest by the end of October. Informed sources disclosed that the investigation of US automotive products may start from the direction of anti-subsidy, because the US financial institutions’ tens of billions of dollars in financial assistance to the US auto industry has constituted an unfair trade competition.

In 2008, China’s total automobile imports were 408,800, and 29,000 vehicles were imported from the United States, a decrease of 8%. At present, imported cars mainly include brands such as Cadillac, Buick, Dodge, and Puma owned by GM, Ford, and Chrysler. Most of them are sedans and SU V models.

At present, interest-related companies such as the US’s three auto giants and imported auto dealers are waiting for the further development of the incident. U.S. General Motors issued a statement saying that "will continue to actively work to promote communication and exchange between the two countries in order to reduce trade frictions," while Chrysler said it would "wait for concrete policies."

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Why are small tires put on the chess game to become the focus of competition?

Tire sales data for 2008 showed that the export volume of tires from domestic tire companies accounted for nearly 60% of total sales. This also shows the current fact that local tire companies have taken exports as the main direction, and also as the main channel for corporate profits growth. In retrospect, this kind of practice, which is heavy and light, has been maintained for more than a decade.

The temptation of overseas high-margin markets

Back in time more than a decade ago. At the time, the pace of entry into China by multinational giants was still sluggish. The mainland's major tire manufacturers Goodyear and Cooper's factories have not yet entered China, and the number of Chinese tire export products is still very small. At that time, the local tire manufacturers were still "Taro." "At that time, when we formed a partnership with Shanghai Volkswagen and other automakers, other automakers wanted us to support them, and they had to take care of the relationship." The person in charge of a local large tire manufacturer recalled that he was full of emotion. .

Faced with the predicament of small domestic vehicle ownership and low demand, major tire companies are also working hard to explore new profit growth channels. “Our then head of staff went to Australia and was surprised to find that high-performance tires can make money very easily, and profits are so high that they can imagine it—a profit of a high-performance tire equals 7-8 small pieces. As a result, our company began to adjust its strategy, expand the scale of production of large tires, and gradually shift its focus to overseas.” Said the original overseas routes, the person said.

This also opened the curtain for domestic tire companies to enter overseas. Since then, in addition to many domestic large-scale enterprises, even a large number of unknown small tire companies in the Mainland have also joined the process of accepting orders from abroad and then supplying large quantities.

Lack of credit system causes companies to prefer exports

At present, the same type of products in China’s tire companies are exported to foreign countries, and the prices are not only lower than other similar products in the region, but are even lower than the sales price of the same model products in China by about 10%. A local tire manufacturer believes that the credit system in the domestic market is lagging behind, resulting in a lack of smooth flow of funds and another important reason for companies to be willing to export.

In the export market, after the domestic tire exporter has signed a contract with the US importer, the importer only needs to provide a letter of credit, and the exporter can go to the bank to obtain a mortgage loan and ship it after production. During this period, the flow of funds was smooth, there was no default risk or the risk was low. Although the price will be lower than that of the domestic market, it will be possible to obtain substantial profits through huge sales.

In contrast, due to the unsound credit system in the domestic sales market, accounts receivable are not only difficult to be put in place in time, but are even subject to arrears and breach of contract. Moreover, in the case of multiple related parties, the cost of arrears settlement It is also very high. Taking into account the additional financial costs brought by the payment method, and the risk of default that exists in it, the quoted price for internal sales is usually high. Therefore, gradually leading many domestic tire companies to attack the international market, but neglected the domestic market.

According to customs statistics, in the first half of 2009, China exported 130 million tires in total, including exports of tires of 33.07 million, 25.42 million, 17.77 million and 16.98 million tires to the United States, the European Union, Africa, and Latin America, respectively, and exported to the above countries and regions. The total volume accounted for 71.7% of China’s total tire exports during the same period. At present, the US tire production capacity is about 350 million sets, and the number of tires imported from China occupies 1/5 of the US market. Although several major tire manufacturers in the United States have abandoned the low-end tire market, a large number of products from China, coupled with lower prices than local products, have caused the local Steel Workers’ Union to begin to unremittingly vent grievances in Chinese companies. Body.

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Go to war

The United States holds its own hands first and moves chess to the door of China

The financial crisis that broke out in 2008 caused the United States to face a depressing economic environment. At that time, China’s tire product exports hit a record high. Faced with the cheap tires that have continuously landed on the US market, the rising unemployment of American workers has finally started.

Tire special security case settled

On April 20 this year, the U.S. Steel Workers Federation applied to the U.S. International Trade Commission to implement a "special safeguard measure" investigation procedure for Chinese-made tires: China's import quotas for tire imports from the United States were reduced from 46 million to 25 million per year. ). On June 29, the U.S. International Trade Commission again recommended that U.S. President Barack Obama impose a 55%, 45%, and 35% tariff on Chinese-made tires in the next 1-3 years. The reason given by the U.S. Iron and Steel Workers’ Federation is that the number of tires imported from the United States increased by 215% from 2004 to 2008 and the amount increased by 295%, which caused damage to U.S. domestic industries.

While Bush was in power in the United States, the U.S. Association submitted a total of six special security investigation applications for Chinese products, but they were eventually rejected. Even when people were not overly pessimistic about this ruling, on September 11th, the current U.S. President Barack Obama announced that he decided to impose a three-year punitive tariff on all Chinese cars and light truck tires imported: The first year was 35%, 30% in the second year and 25% in the third year. Because in the US market, the inherent spread of Chinese tire products and Japanese and Korean products, the main competitors, has remained at 15%, so the biggest beneficiaries of dramatic special protection cases have become Japanese and Korean tire companies.

Where is the next "minefield"?

At the same time, the war started to spread further.

Following the United States, the Argentine government department also stated last week that it would conduct anti-dumping investigations on automobile tires originating in China. At that time, it does not rule out the imposition of anti-dumping duties on Chinese car tires. Once this practice has spread, the doors for Chinese tire exports to South America may be closed.

To Europe, the answer is not optimistic. Different from the anti-dumping practice proposed by the United States, the technical barriers in the EU countries have been increasing year by year, and many Chinese tire companies have been shut out. According to the ECE117 certification that was launched this year, the European Union requires that all tire products must meet the noise standards. In 2010, on the basis of this, we will increase the eligibility criteria for wetlands. At the same time, more than 10 raw materials (such as environmentally friendly oils) must be approved by the EU before they can enter the European market. This is for the domestic exports of low-tech products with low prices, is tantamount to leaving the order.

In India on the Asian market, there are early precedents for saying “no” to Chinese products. According to information released by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, since October 2008, India has successively launched 17 trade remedy investigations on Chinese imports, including 10 anti-dumping investigations. The involved products include automobile steering shafts, carbon black, and tires. The amount involved was as high as 1.5 billion U.S. dollars. On May 18 of this year, India launched its fifth special survey on Chinese passenger vehicle tires.

Emerging markets have smelled the "Civil War" bloody smell

Afterwards, many Chinese tire companies have embarked on the journey to open up new markets. However, out of special security cases, other markets in the world have already smelt the smoke smell of a “civil war”. Due to the small proportion of products exported to the United States, and mainly the production of biased tires, the local Pearl River Tire is not considered an “involvement” company. However, Dong Wenfang, the marketing manager, could not conceal any anxiety in his heart. “The company has Starting from the light truck semi-steel radial tires, she said, “In her view, the current export markets in Southeast Asia and South America are not very stable. Returning to the development of the domestic market is a way out for Pearl River Tire to try.

In recent years, Xindi tires only accounted for less than 20% of US-based products. Although the special security case has not had a huge impact on its existing sales, the company's deputy general manager Zhou Hanbin still frowns. "Stable sales in other regions, I am afraid that it will not be easy to keep it. People think that it is impossible for export companies to attack other companies in the region."

Handy

Under the weak situation, how should China's tire industry scrape the edge?

In the face of the unfavorable conditions of the tire special protection case, how can Chinese companies play the brand of tires under government support?

"Self-insurance measures": The government estimates that it will approve, but will discount

After the U.S. government obstinately insisted that the tire special security case be marked with a period of “doing no good for others”, the Chinese government quickly responded by stating its determination to launch anti-dumping measures against imports of American cars and broilers. In addition, it also organized industry associations. And some companies have conducted consultations. Yao Jian, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce, said that it will support the development of tire companies in three aspects: first, continue to negotiate resolutely; secondly, in conjunction with relevant departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and industry associations, research and development plans to include tires Measures supported by the upstream and downstream industries; Third, to support the tire industry to further improve the industrial structure, promote the improvement of the technological level, and make the products more competitive.

At the same time, the China Rubber Association made a series of recommendations to the government. Including the entire vehicle supporting the national brand tires; export tax rebate rate from the current 9% to the previous 13% -15%; the main raw material import tariffs from the current 20% to 5% or even free; government Procurement can also be based on its own brand.

“This kind of proposal that the government hopes to rescue is estimated to be carefully considered by the government and will not be easily agreed. If it is finally agreed, it is also likely to adopt a compromise in its margin.” In response, Zhang Guangwen, a special researcher at the Guangzhou Securities Research Institute, is not optimistic. Statistics show that in the first half of 2009, the number of tire enterprises reached 586, of which 90 were loss, up to 15%. However, the overall gross profit margin was the highest in the past three years with an average of 13%. In addition to the economic recovery, the first half of cost reduction was the main reason. Several self-help proposals mentioned by the association could only eliminate the impact of high tariffs for exports, and could play a role in solving the company's local sales in the short term. . However, this will continue the practice of domestic enterprises to export such low-value-added products, and it is not conducive to the entire tire industry taking the opportunity to carry out industrial upgrading and industrial integration.

New breakthrough point: Adjust product structure and improve quality

The special tariff imposed by the United States mainly involves semi-steel tires and small-size all-steel tires. This in fact also forced Chinese tire exporters to consider actively adjusting the product mix and improving quality, especially in the field of high-performance tires as a new breakthrough in the US market.

In the case of companies that export to the United States, Wanli Tire's US-made high-performance passenger car tires are also affected, but they cannot withstand 35% higher tariffs than other low-end products. The profit margin will be relatively high. At present, the Group's Wanli high-performance car tires, which account for US replacement of high-performance passenger car tires, have risen from 8% last year to about 10%. In the same way, Hangzhou Zhongce Tire also was not willing to withdraw from the U.S. market. At the same time it sought to break through the market in the high-end market, it has gradually increased the cost of technology research and development and increased the product's additional profits.

Another space: to switch to the domestic market

For domestic tire brands to repatriate domestic, domestic distributors, especially some fast repair shops and beauty shops in South China, are not optimistic. Mr. Ye has been engaged in tire sales for more than 20 years. At present, the tire brand he sells is basically monopolized by the products of several giant multinational tires. He knows the tires of the local brands and knows that there are indeed many products with higher cost performance. However, he must face a very real problem: how to convince consumers to buy? As a business, if the goods are always sold out, he still has to take profit first. After all, the brand awareness of domestically produced tires is too weak, which leads to local consumers thinking that they are all brands of genuine vehicles and products of multinational giants that form a brand reputation.

“In the past two years, we have been aware of the seriousness of the situation. Therefore, in order to maintain supply to the Middle East, Africa and other regions, the domestic market has begun to become one of the main directions we slowly infiltrate.” Zhou Hanbin, Deputy General Manager of Xindi Tire Company Has begun to plan how to co-operate with domestic distributors.

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Strong opponents, advantages do not necessarily translate into victory.

However, in the trade war triggered by the special security case, Chinese tire companies may not be the only losers, and there are still significant changes in the progress of the incident.

Or trigger a more industry-wide appeal in the United States

It is now an important moment for the Obama administration to rely on trade union organizations to implement health care reform proposals. According to the “Steel of the Steel Workers”, which imposes a three-year punitive tariff on China’s export tires, it should be possible to consolidate the US blue-collar workers and union leaders in the near future. Support for him. However, the problem is that this move may trigger a new round of complaints against imports from China by more US industries.

The Wall Street Journal believes that this may force the Obama administration to face more difficult choices. The Obama administration has been careful to maintain a balance between supporting American workers and maintaining free trade.

U.S. employment situation may worsen

The employment situation in the United States may also be difficult to achieve any substantial improvement. The U.S. Joint Steel Workers’ Union believes that the influx of Chinese tires has brought an impact on American jobs. However, the analysis believes that if the United States excludes Chinese products through tariff increases, nearly 25,000 people in the tire distribution and retail sector will be unemployed. Thomas Prissa, a professor of economics at Rutgers University in the United States, pointed out that with the use of special tire protection measures, the United States will lose 25 jobs each time it saves one job. As a result, the United States will lose 25,000 jobs. Posts, this actually worsens the US job market.

Under the circumstances of the economic downturn in the United States, giving up Chinese inexpensive tire products is also a major blow for American consumers. According to Mayfield, president of China Tire's major importer and distributor D el-N at Tire, the United States expects to see some significant price increases in the next 60 days, and entry-level tire prices may increase by at least 20%. Not only that, but many US tire dealers pointed out that they bought tires from China because US companies have already given up such small-benefit products locally. Even if special safeguards are implemented, it is impossible for US manufacturers to reopen their production lines. Force US distributors to find alternatives in other countries.

The impact of China's counterattack can not be underestimated

It is also worth noting that the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China initiated anti-dumping and anti-subsidy case filing review procedures for some imported cars and broiler products in the United States — this is the first time in history that China has launched a positive trade war with the United States for automotive products. This may be the case for domestic cars. The development of the automobile industry in the United States, especially the United States, has had some impact.

The latest news is that the Ministry of Commerce has commissioned relevant agencies to conduct relevant investigations on imported cars produced in the United States, and the US-produced cars that are investigated for investigation are mainly vehicles. It is expected that the relevant investigation will be completed before the end of September. Once the dumping and subsidy activities are confirmed, the Ministry of Commerce will announce the punitive measures at the earliest by the end of October. Informed sources disclosed that the investigation of US automotive products may start from the direction of anti-subsidy, because the US financial institutions’ tens of billions of dollars in financial assistance to the US auto industry has constituted an unfair trade competition.

Once related penalties are introduced, the United States will become more marginalized in the country. In the past, in order to balance the trade deficit between China and the United States, the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China has purchased batches of imported vehicles from the United States in a special preferential manner, so that the United States imported cars have certain sales guarantees; this is expected to help the United States in the future as the trade war begins. The method of car sales will be abandoned.

At present, interest-related companies such as the US’s three auto giants and imported auto dealers are waiting for the further development of the incident. U.S. General Motors issued a statement saying that "it will continue to actively engage in the promotion of communication and exchanges between the two countries in order to reduce trade frictions" and believes that "current trade disputes can be resolved through constructive proposals." Chrysler, on the other hand, stated that it would "wait for concrete policies."

After strokes

In the mid-table game, what kind of calculations do we have?

At present, if China and the United States both can maintain certain restraint on the tire special security case, it should be the best result. This is because once the two largest trade bodies in the world have a large-scale trade war, it will not only impact the global trading system, but will also have a severe impact on the domestic economic recovery process of both parties. When the Chinese Ministry of Commerce introduced anti-sanction measures, the sharp decline of the US stocks reflects investors’ unusual concerns about the economic outlook.

Recourse to the WTO

After making a punitive tariff on Chinese tires, U.S. President Barack Obama said he was not surprised at the Chinese government’s dissatisfaction, but said he believes this incident will not trigger a trade war. China’s choice of anti-dumping measures on the two export categories of broiler and car products that both sides have been arguing with has also shown that China’s response is restrained.

In addition, last week's move by the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China to quickly relocate the tire protection case to the WTO also showed that China hopes to keep trade frictions within the framework of international law, which indicates that the differences between the two sides may be controllable.

U.S. car companies are no longer giving preferential treatment in China

Some analysts also believe that this incident may cause certain obstacles to cooperation between the two countries in the related automotive field. The Chinese government may revisit the development of American auto companies in China. It is clear that the U.S. government is not aware of how much its auto companies have benefited from the rapid development in China. In the past few years, China’s support for American auto companies and US imported vehicles is the largest in all countries. Both General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler’s development in the country are encouraged, and our country also sends batches of billions of dollars to them each year. Purchase imported cars. Some analysts expect that this preferential treatment will no longer appear in the future.

In the import of components and parts, the “Administrative Measures for the Import of Auto Parts that Constitute the Characteristics of the Vehicle”, originally implemented for more than four years, was forced to cancel from September 1 this year. This incident has caused the Ministry of Commerce to import European and American auto parts and components. Emergence of assembly booms and other issues may be the focus of attention, and related follow-up policies are also in the pipeline. It is expected that the government will also re-regulate the project approval and new vehicle access.

In related fields involving the future development of the automobile industry, such as automotive energy-saving emission reduction and new energy vehicles, the Chinese government is also unlikely to focus on the cooperation plans of American auto companies. The promotion of these areas is precisely the urgent need for the government to introduce relevant incentive policies to promote; in this regard, Japanese companies may be able to grab an opportunity.

Sino-US car companies overseas cooperation projects or restricted

In addition, the tire security case happens to happen in the context of a number of auto industry in China are trying to acquire American auto assets, which may make the approval of these acquisition projects more difficult. Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industries has always been interested in purchasing General Motors’ Hummer. Both parties have also signed an acquisition agreement. However, this plan has not been approved by the Ministry of Commerce. According to the report, the Ministry of Commerce believes that the plan is not clear in many places and requires Tengzhong. Reapply.

In addition, the Beijing Automotive Group has recently made it clear that it will attempt to participate in the bidding for GM’s Saab by way of a stake in Sweden’s Koenigsegg Group. Since both Hummer and Saab are bad assets that have been sold under the GM plan, both plans are now subject to special tire protection, and the Ministry of Commerce is expected to be more cautious.

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Tire Enterprise "Changing Samples"

● China policy to respond to the United States special safeguards

If it is said that the South China tires, which accounted for more than 50% of its share in the United States, are in deep shadows, China Strategic is still fortunate. The largest leading company in the export of tires to the United States in Zhejiang is not entirely dependent on the United States to eat. In the recent rankings, Zhongce ranked 13th in the world in terms of tires. Last year, Zhongce had annual sales of 14.8 billion yuan.

As early as the beginning of the tire special protection case, in April, China Strategic changed its tactics. “Our exports are to more than 160 countries and regions in the world. The loss of the US market can be compensated for in other emerging markets.” Xu You, Manager of Legal Affairs Department of China Policy The name disclosed the countermeasures of China policy.

The first move: opening up new markets. At present, the Chinese strategy produces more tires. Shen Jinrong said that the tires that were suspended for export on September 11 could be used worldwide and would be sold to other countries.

The second measure: expand domestic sales and optimize the dealer network. After the tires were transformed from production materials to living materials, they faced a huge increase in the domestic market. At present, China Strategic has lowered its dealer network to the county level and sold it to ordinary owners face to face.

The third measure is to optimize the product structure. Although also doing OEM work for Goodyear, China Strategic stated that it insists on strengthening its own brands. On average, every two days, there is a new product adapted to different levels of demand, further adjusting the structure of the product, and producing more marketable products. .

Last year, 46 million tires were exported to the United States. Now that exports to the US market have been blocked, the number of domestic tires will increase. Shen Jinrong believes that the prices of tires on the market may decline, not to say that tires exported to the US can be digested on the domestic market. .

● Korean enterprises transfer orders to the United States or partially transfer

For last week's foreign reports, "South Korea's largest tire manufacturer Hankook Tire and Kumho Tire will replace tyres produced in China and exported to the United States with tires produced in factories in Vietnam and Hungary." An insider of Hankook Tire gave it. He denied that he also said that Hankook Tire entered China from 1996 and has factories in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province and Huai'an, Jiangsu Province. The annual production capacity has reached 28 million, of which the annual output of the Jiaxing plant is 3.55 million. Hankook sold more than 78 million of its products in five global production bases last year. The capacity of Chinese factories is second only to its Korean counterparts.

Hankook said that the normal operation of the Jiaxing plant, coupled with the impact of the financial crisis last year, timely adjustment of the export structure, the development of emerging markets are also more up, the United States by special security part can find other markets to replace. In addition, Han Thai said that the amount of taxation covered by the United States only accounted for 4.5% of the total output. As for the huge development potential of the Chinese passenger car market, Hankook will continue to maintain its top position in the passenger car market. Position to make up for the loss in the U.S. market.

An official of the Jiaxing Foreign Economic and Trade Bureau was worried about the situation of the Hankook Jiaxing factory. Last year, Hankook Tire (Jiaxing) Co., Ltd. exported 8.13 million tires, and exported 231 million U.S. dollars, accounting for 48.5% of the province’s export value. , accounting for 6.32% of Zhejiang's total export value. Among them, US$113 million was exported to the United States with a total of 3.55 million. Once these orders are transferred to production sites outside the Jiaxing factory, it will be a great blow.

The person of Kumho Tires surnamed Zhao said that the annual output of Kumho in China was 26 million, including 13 million in Nanjing. In addition, there are factories in Tianjin and Changchun. 50% of products are exported. There is currently no reduction in production. As early as the beginning of the United States began an investigation of Chinese tires, they felt they had changed and quickly transferred their orders to places of origin outside the Chinese factories.

● Wanli Tire Increases its Domestic Sales Network

In the first half of 2009, Wanli Tire has completed the technical cooperation between GAC Group and Shenlong Beverly, as well as supporting BYD. In the second quarter of this year, the proportion of sales within the company's all-steel tires has also risen from about 35% at the beginning of the year to around 80% of the current level; the total amount of domestic automakers has increased by more than 50% from the beginning of the year; the sales volume in the month of June has reached 98.29. Ten thousand, of which semi-steel top-grade tires sold 230,500, and domestic sales were nearly 250,000. In the next 3-5 years, due to getting government departments to take the lead, the supply of local Japanese brand manufacturers is expected to increase.

In view of the status quo of the past domestic manufacturers' orders production ignoring the end market, Wanli Tire has started to increase its own efforts in building channels in Guangzhou. In September, 15 new distribution networks were formed in cooperation with Wanli Tire, which has now reached 38 and it is planned to break 100 by the end of the year.

Planning Department Minister Feng Jianping did not agree with the question that products still rely on prices to win. "These cooperation stores, Wanli mainly supply high-performance products, and the rebates for distributors are only targeted at high-end products. At the same time, they will imitate the successful experience of imported brands and focus on improving the after-sales service of products, especially brewing. 24-hour assistance as one of the value-added services."

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