In the first half of the year, ceramic foreign traders were worried about orders; in the second half of the year, there were orders and goods but no cabinets! In 2020, why is it so difficult for Chinese ceramic foreign traders to "move bricks"?
Recently, the ceramic export foreign trade circle has been very lively. “There are orders and goods, but no cabinets”, “freights have increased seven to eight times”, “sky-high sea freight”, “all the cabinets have been dumped!” , "I am already very happy if I have a locker!", "If a large ship is towed, there will be a storage fee"And other news are endless.
According to people familiar with the matter, China's ceramic export business has gradually recovered since October, but it is not as hot as expected. Compared with the same period last year, it has only recovered by 70 to 80%. Now some foreign trade companies have fallen into a "stagnant" state.
There are orders and goods but no cabinets
Ceramic exports "stagnant" again
“Now I can’t ship the goods after receiving the order!” On December 8, the person in charge of a ceramic export foreign trade company said helplessly that it was not that there was no consumer demand, but that it was due to the soaring sea freight, insufficient shipping space and container volume, Affected by factors such as the decline in exchange rates, the export of ceramic tiles has temporarily stalled.
A common phenomenon now is: there is an order and goods but no cabinet!
According to relevant sources, 40-foot containers are currently in short supply, while 20-foot containers are relatively abundant. Could it be that China's export trade is currently extremely booming?
In fact, China's current export situation is not as hot as expected, including ceramic exports. The "no container" situation is mainly due to the impact of the epidemic. China's import trade has decreased, and now China's export trade has begun to recover, resulting in a serious imbalance between supply and demand for containers.
According to statistics from the General Administration of Customs, China's architectural ceramics export volume from January to October 2020 was 10.42 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 21.6%, and the export value was 33.97832 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 12.2%.
Among them, China’s architectural ceramics export volume in October was 1.1 million tons, and the export value was 3.41536 billion yuan, which was the same as last year.Compared with the same period, they decreased by 14.8% and 15.8% respectively.
However, ceramic foreign traders feel that the decline in exports of their own companies is even more obvious. The person in charge of a leading foreign trade company in Foshan told "Ceramic Information" that his company's ceramic sales in October fell by about 30% year-on-year, while shipments dropped by 25%.
If a ceramic company's export destination market is Europe and the United States, then the company's performance can basically be described as "horrible."
Previously, the North American Ceramic Tile Association released U.S. ceramic tile market data for the first three quarters: In the third quarter of 2020, U.S. ceramic tile consumption was approximately 189 million square meters, a year-on-year decrease of 11.6%. Among them, imported ceramic tiles accounted for 67.9%, while Chinese ceramic tiles plummeted from 31.5% at the peak to less than 2%.
Affected by the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020, how did China Ceramics Foreign Trade Companies and foreign trade people survive?
First quarter: The shipping time is short before the Spring Festival, but the resumption of work is delayed after the holiday;
Second quarter: Relying on a small number of old orders to maintain, customers are suspending new orders due to concerns about the spread of the epidemic;
Third quarter: Overseas epidemics are gradually under control, and customers begin to place new orders;
Fourth quarter:New orders from customers have gradually increased, and have recovered to 70% year-on-year. However, due to challenges such as shipping and exchange rates, as well as insufficient natural gas supply, a lot of production capacity has not been released, causing exports to fall into a temporary "temporary" state again. Stalled" state.
Sea freight has gone up like crazy!
December shipments may be only 10% of the same period last year
Many ceramic foreign trade people told "Ceramic Information" that based on the current situation,basically all shipping routes have increased. Many freight forwarding companies said that bookings for Southeast Asian routes such as Thailand and Indonesia are currently suspended because customers and exporters cannot afford the increase in sea freight.
The person in charge of the above-mentioned Foshan leading foreign trade company frankly stated that Southeast Asia and the Americas are its main export markets, butThe increase in sea freight on Southeast Asian lines and ocean routes has seriously exceeded the acceptable range. , so his company basically suspended exports.
Specifically,Sea freight rates for Southeast Asia lines have been rising since October, with an average increase of 10 times in the past two months, and at some points the increase was as high as 150%.
Ocean shipping routes—the Americas have seen an even more astonishing increase, fromFrom September to early December, the sea freight per container increased by US$4,000 to US$5,000. According to reports, the price will rise at a rate of US$1,000 per container in half a month until the Spring Festival.
“At present, shipping prices have entered a monopoly. We hope that the government can increase attention and appropriate intervention in shipping pricing.” The person in charge of the above-mentioned Foshan leading foreign trade company said, “Otherwise, according to the development of this situation, it is estimated that our company’s sales in December will be Export volume is only 10% of previous years."
According to "Ceramic Information", many shipping companies are currently temporarily updating shipping schedules, causing varying degrees of losses to many ceramic foreign traders.
Taking the export of ceramics from Foshan as an example, barges are generally shipped from Foshan Port to major ports such as Guangzhou and Shenzhen. However, many shipping companies in major ports have recently temporarily postponed shipping schedules, which cannot match the previously determined barge plans, resulting in storage fees and the need to pay more container rentals.
Generally speaking, the current stacking-free period for containers at the terminal is 7 days. Once the deadline is exceeded, the ceramic foreign trade company will have to pay a storage fee. The storage fee + container rent is about 600 yuan/container per day.
In fact, this makes the ceramic foreign trade company very difficult! “The freight forwarder said that the sea freight will increase again next week, and the increase will be about US$400/container. We will either accept the storage fee + more container rent, or we will settle with the new freight and new rent until the opening The freight price will be updated before shipping. ”A ceramic foreign trade salesperson said that no matter what, the transportation cost will increase.
There are rumors that Foshan barges will cease operations in January 2021 and will be shipped directly to major ports. As a result, the cost of freight will be higher, because the cost of short-distance land transportation is much higher than that of barge freight.
It is worth mentioning that in addition to skyrocketing sea freight, exchange rate fluctuations have also caused great trouble to ceramic exports. This year, the exchange rate at the peak period for ceramic foreign trade companies to receive orders was 7.1, but now it has dropped to 6.55. Because many orders are faced with challenges such as insufficient factory capacity and soaring shipping after receiving the orders, customers have been unable to confirm the shipping date, thus failing to lock in the exchange rate, which indirectly leads to varying degrees of losses for ceramic foreign trade companies.
Even if the exchange rate is locked, the delivery time may be delayed again and again due to various reasons. Ceramic foreign trade companies will also face the risk of receiving different exchange rates when the exchange rate lock expires.
For ceramic foreign traders, they will encounter many challenges every year: from anti-dumping to the low-price impact of ceramics from other countries, to this year’s new crown epidemic, but challenges and opportunities coexist, and the key lies in how to constantly change Strive for survival and development.
Future, China’s TaoThere are great opportunities for the development of porcelain exports, because many overseas customers recognize the quality of Chinese ceramics. Under the same tariff conditions as other countries, overseas customers prefer to import from China.
(The article is reproduced from Ceramic Information)
