In 2015, both for the Chinese rubber industry and the tire industry, it was an important year in the history of development. This year, China's rubber industry ushered in a hundred years of birth - in 1915, China's first rubber products factory, Guangdong Brothers Creation of the gum company was founded. Cork Coaster,Custom Cork Coasters,Cork Drink Coasters,Cork Cup Coasters Jiangsu Real Sporting Goods Limited Company , https://www.realcorkwood.com
In the past 100 years, China's rubber industry has grown from scratch, from small to large, from the beginning of only producing rubber shoes products to today's established perfect rubber industry system, especially as a representative product of the rubber industry, the year of various types of tires. The output has reached 562 million, ranking first in the world for 10 consecutive years, and plays an important role in the global market.
However, the so-called "big tree", the huge production and export volume of Chinese tires has also caused frequent international trade frictions. The current "double anti-" (anti-dumping, countervailing) investigation of Chinese passenger cars and light truck tires is an example. .
As the world's largest tire producer and exporter, China's automobile tires (excluding off-highway tires) have an annual export volume of more than 5 million pieces, with an export value of US$14.5 billion, while the US is the largest market for China's tire exports, and its export share. It accounts for 30% of the total export volume. The US “double-reverse†case involved a total amount of US$3.37 billion and more than 200 tire companies involved. It is expected that the livelihood of more than 1 million industrial workers in the upstream and downstream will be affected, causing unprecedented shocks in the Chinese tire industry. Recently, the reporter conducted an investigation and interview on this incident.
The negative effects have begun to show that the impact of the US “double-reverse†storm on June 3 last year has already appeared on the Chinese tire industry.
On January 21 this year, the US Department of Commerce issued a preliminary anti-dumping result, which determined that there was dumping behavior in China’s tire products exported to the United States. The two companies, Jiatong and Sailong, received a tax rate of 19.1% and 36.26% respectively, and the rest of the enterprises will be traced back to the beginning. Anti-dumping duties were imposed 90 days before the cut, and the tax rate was as high as 30.46% to 100.02%. Discriminatory practices were adopted for state-owned enterprises. No separate tax rate was imposed, and the highest rate was 100.02%.
The preliminary ruling of the US Department of Commerce has sparked an uproar in the domestic tire industry. The tax rate for the preliminary ruling was significantly higher than expected, higher than the affordability of Chinese tire companies. People in the industry have accused this of being a discriminatory act against the Chinese tire industry. It is a pure trade protection act. If such a high tax rate is implemented, it will have a huge impact on the national tires and related industries.
On February 7, Shandong Deruibao Tire Co., Ltd. filed for bankruptcy and reorganization, which was the first company in the domestic tire industry to fall under the impact of the US “double oppositionâ€. The reporter learned that as a tire segment of Shandong Haolong Group, Deruibao Tire was established in December 2009. It is a large-scale modern tire integrating R&D, production, sales and international trade of all-steel radial tires and semi-steel radial tires. The enterprise has a registered capital of 210 million yuan. The current status of Deruibao tires is related to the current overcapacity environment in the industry, and the US “double-reverse†has become the “last straw†to crush it. In the US “double-reverse†responding company's preliminary tax rate table, the company's parent company, Shandong Xiaolong Group, is listed.
On April 9th, China Rubber Industry Association held a seminar on dealing with international trade frictions in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province. Liu Huichun, deputy general manager of Guangzhou Wanli Group Co., Ltd., said in an interview at the meeting: "Application by the American Iron and Steel Workers Association The "double anti-" of Chinese tire products, the so-called "dogs take the mouse", the applicant's qualification itself has problems. But the US Department of Commerce still launched an investigation and made a preliminary ruling, nakedly exposed the United States violation of the WTO rules Trade protectionism is carried out. In particular, the United States ignores the relevant rulings of the WTO and still insists on unreasonable practices. It refuses to grant separate tax rate treatment to the state-owned enterprises involved in the case. The state-owned enterprise tax rate is as high as 100.02%, which is very unfair to state-owned enterprises. As a state-owned enterprise, Wanli Group will face such a high tariff and will undoubtedly lose the US market. It is estimated that the annual loss will reach more than 1 billion yuan."
Shen Jinrong, chairman and general manager of Zhongce Rubber Group Co., Ltd., told reporters that China’s passenger cars and light truck tires exported to the United States accounted for one-third of the total exports, accounting for about 15% of the total output. Executing such a high tax rate will have a huge impact on Chinese tires and related industries.
At present, the negative effects of the "double opposition" of the United States have begun to appear. Affected by factors such as the strength of the US dollar and geopolitical conflicts, in addition to the United States, other countries have seen a decline in their willingness to import Chinese tires. The "double opposition" of the United States has blocked the main export channels of domestic enterprises, resulting in a sharp decline in the operating rate of enterprises. From 90% before the case was initiated, it suddenly dropped to about 55%. According to the statistics of member companies of China Rubber Industry Association, from January to February 2015, China's radial tire production decreased by 5% year-on-year, and the export delivery value decreased by 9%.
There is still a silver lining in the final ruling. After the preliminary ruling of the US "double opposition", it will be finalized by the US Department of Commerce and the US International Trade Commission in June and July this year. The Chinese tire companies will have their last chance to win their rights and interests.
Beijing Jincheng Tongda Law Firm is a final ruling law firm specially hired by China Rubber Industry Association. When interviewing the senior partner of the firm, Yang Chen, the reporter learned that in order to lay a good job of "double opposition" final ruling, China has already The work before the parties was carried out. These include: hiring American lawyers to apply for administrative protection orders and reviewing preliminary rulings; submitting comments on the final ruling questionnaire, and most of the opinions have been adopted by the US International Trade Commission; Chinese and American lawyers face-to-face exchanges to discuss responding programs; training Chinese companies responded to the questionnaires, reviewed and revised the questionnaires, contacted the potential allied forces such as the American Tire Industry Association, and sought their assistance and discussion of the defense ideas for seeking a better chance of winning.
After intensive preparations, the Chinese lawyers have prepared sufficient defense opinions. Yang Chen revealed one of them: tire products can be divided into three grades according to product specifications, and most tires produced in the US are in the first grade and Two grades, while a large part of the tires from China are sold at the third level. The competition between the third grade tires and the first grade and the second grade is very limited, especially the sales price. Chinese tires cause damage to the US tire industry. The impact is almost zero. In the preliminary ruling, the Chinese defense against the three levels of tires was not adopted.
Yang Chen believes that this is because China did not provide sufficient evidence before. Now China has prepared strong evidence in this regard, that is, in 2009, the United States imposed a three-year special guarantee on Chinese tire imports. Adequate market data indicates that in the fourth quarter of 2012, after the US tariffs on Chinese tires were cancelled, although the number of tires exported from China to the United States increased, the price of US tire products did not change significantly. This shows that the tires of China and the United States have different markets and do not conflict with each other.
It is understood that the precedents of winning anti-dumping lawsuits due to different product market positioning are not uncommon. For example, in 2000, the European Union launched an anti-dumping investigation on Chinese graphite electrode products. Chinese lawyers argued that the graphite electrodes sold in the EU market are classified into three categories: ultra-high power, high power and low power. The market positioning of the three types of products varies in price. There is no competition. The plaintiffs only produce ultra-high-power graphite electrodes, and most of the graphite electrodes exported from China to the EU are high-power, low-power products. The EU's anti-dumping against products that it does not produce is not in line with WTO rules. Finally, the EU company had to withdraw the lawsuit.
It is understood that the next Chinese lawyer will form a delegation with enterprises and associations to attend the US International Trade Commission hearings, arrange witnesses to attend the hearing and testify, and will also work in the United States through various aspects to strive for final ruling. Get the desired result.
When the reporter asked what kind of results the final ruling might win, Yang Chen believes that it is too difficult to completely abolish the "double-reverse" tariff, and it is still possible to fight for a lower tax rate.
Optimizing the structure is inevitable At present, in addition to this “double-reverse†friction, the Chinese tire industry also involves seven anti-dumping cases, including the United States, Russia, Belarus, Argentina, Turkey, Brazil, etc. The products involved include car tires and construction machinery. Tires, motorcycle tires, bicycle tires, etc. According to statistics, since 2001, the Chinese tire industry has experienced 19 anti-dumping and countervailing cases initiated by nearly 20 countries.
Why does China's tire industry become the hardest hit area for foreign anti-dumping? When the reporter interviewed Deng Yazhen, president of China Rubber Industry Association, one of the important reasons is that the import tariff of natural rubber, the main raw material of China's rubber industry, is too high, while the domestically produced natural rubber is only Can meet 20% of domestic demand. Faced with this dilemma of “no riceâ€, domestic tire rubber enterprises only have some big-in and big-out roads, such as processing materials, and the number of tire exports is large, which naturally leads to international trade frictions such as anti-dumping.
The reporter learned that recently the domestic import tariffs on natural rubber have been raised. The import tariff for technical classification of natural rubber has been adjusted from 1,200 yuan/ton to 1,500 yuan/ton, and the new composite rubber standard that limits the processing of natural rubber materials has passed. Undoubtedly make the tire industry in distress worse. The China Rubber Industry Association put forward opinions on the first time of tariff adjustment and carried out a series of appeals.
In this regard, Shi Yifeng, secretary general of the China Rubber Industry Association Tire Branch, said that as the main raw material for tire manufacturing, it is not appropriate to adopt high tariffs on natural rubber, a domestic shortage of strategic materials. First, high tariffs increase the production costs of tire companies, which can easily trigger international trade frictions and seriously restrict the upstream and downstream development of the industry. Second, high tariffs have also restricted Chinese tire companies from exporting to ASEAN countries. According to the principle of reciprocity, ASEAN countries impose high tariffs of 10%-40% on tires imported from China, while the import tariffs on tires between 10 ASEAN countries are only about 5%. Third, high tariffs have also hindered the development strategy of “going out†in the domestic natural rubber industry represented by Guangdong agricultural land. For a long time, the domestic natural rubber industry has been developing slowly, and the annual output has been hovering around 800,000 tons, far from meeting the domestic market demand. The “going out†rubber recycling industry also needs to impose import tariffs in the same way, which actually plays a role of protection backwardness and seriously affects the overall interests of the industry. Fourth, raising tariffs and closing the door of composite rubber imports will not help the price of natural rubber to rebound. Instead, it will only hit the already difficult domestic rubber tire industry.
The reporter learned that in order to fundamentally resolve the suppression of trade protectionism, many domestic tire companies have accelerated the pace of “going outâ€: after the completion of the first phase of the project of the wheel factory in Vietnam, the second phase of the project followed. It is expected that the production scale of 7.8 million semi-steel radial tires and 15,000 all-steel radial tires will be formed. The first phase of Linglong International Tire (Thailand) Co., Ltd. will start in February 2014, and the second phase will also be completed. It has been put into construction, and will have an annual production capacity of 13.2 million high-performance radial tires. The annual production of 5 million passenger tires invested by Zhongce Rubber Group in Thailand is accelerating. It is expected to be put into operation in October this year. Mori Kirin Tire Co., Ltd. also established 10 million passenger tire factory projects in Thailand. In addition to the above projects, large tire companies such as Triangle, Double Money and Double Star are also actively seeking to establish multinational factories around the world to promote market sales and diversification of raw material supply.
"Frequent international trade friction has sounded the alarm for the industry. Domestic tire companies should get rid of the speed complex as soon as possible, speed up product structure adjustment, enhance brand competitiveness, improve product quality, increase product added value, and effectively maintain the export market operation order. It is crucial for the industry to get out of the dilemma of foreign trade friction." Shi Yifeng finally stressed.