Although the domestic auto market has been extremely hot this year, the export business of China's auto companies is not optimistic. Statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers show that in the first half of this year, China exported a total of 160,600 vehicles, a decrease of 58.22% over the same period of last year, and the amount of foreign exchange earned through exports was US$2.357 billion, a year-on-year drop of 52.84%. Different from the vehicle export, the export of auto parts and components in China showed signs of rapid recovery. In the first half of this year, the export value of components of the driving system increased by 5.03% year-on-year.
Experts believe that the export of China’s auto industry will present a slow recovery of the entire vehicle and a structural warming up of accelerated recovery of parts and components. With the rise of trade protectionism in various countries, China’s vehicle companies urgently need to change their export trade methods. Simply changing their general trade exports into production exports, technology exports, and industrial chain exports can better withstand the financial crisis and resolve trade disputes. .
Complete vehicle parts polarization
In the first half of the year, the domestic automobile industry exports suffered heavy losses. According to the summary of China Automotive Industry Association’s export of automobile products in the first half of the year, “the export of vehicle exports has been sluggish, leading models have declined overall; export trade has dropped sharply, and the surplus has been significantly reduced, and the value of all major exporting countries has dropped significantly.â€
In the first half of this year, the total amount of foreign vehicle export through national exports totaled US$2.357 billion, a decrease of 52.84% from the same period of last year. With the addition of spare parts, the total export volume of auto products totaled US$15.605 billion, still a drop of 37.02% year-on-year.
From the month-on-month basis, China’s vehicle exports have stabilized in May of this year, ending the month-on-month decline since August of last year. The month-on-month growth rates in May and June were 14.28% and 9.21%, respectively. However, in absolute terms, the volume of vehicle exports in the first half of the year was 58.22% lower than the same period last year.
Different from the downturn in vehicle exports, domestic auto parts manufacturers have been following a recovery from the warming up of the auto consumer market in Europe and the United States due to their strong competitiveness. In the first half of this year, the accumulated export value of parts and components for the driving system, which mainly consisted of tires, wheels, etc., was US$5.261 billion, an increase of 5.03% over the same period of last year. The engine parts and components were closely matched with the entire vehicle and became the largest component of the decline in the first half of the year. The export value decreased by 24.73%, but it was still much better than the entire vehicle.
Fu Peizhao, deputy secretary-general of the Motor Branch of the Electromechanical Chamber of Commerce, believes that the pattern of polarization between complete vehicles and parts mainly focuses on three reasons: First, the export markets for the two are different, and the major vehicle exports are developing countries. Due to the high degree of financial crisis, and the depreciation of currencies is also large, the recovery is slow, while parts and components companies are mainly exported to Europe and the United States, the automotive market is relatively mature; Second, the two trade modes are different, the entire vehicle exports take general trade exports. While the parts and components are processed and traded in a certain proportion, the proportion of general trade after the financial crisis has risen sharply. Thirdly, the nature of the two companies is different. Most of the vehicle export companies are state-owned enterprises, and parts and components The foreign-funded enterprises in export enterprises account for more than 50%, and the export difficulty is less than that of state-owned enterprises.
When looking at the export situation in the automotive industry in the second half of this year, Fu Peizhao said that vehicle exports will continue to recover month by month, but the rate will not be too high, and the recovery of parts and components companies will be better than the vehicle, which is mainly due to the consumption of cars in Europe and America. The "new trade-in" policy was introduced. According to the German Association of Automobile Manufacturers, released on August 14, after the European automobile sales in June rebounded, the recovery momentum in July continued, and the Western European market increased by 5% year-on-year to 1.2 million vehicles, including Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom. It increased by 30%, 3%, 6% and 2% respectively. Car sales in the UK market have increased for the first time since April last year. In July, the US automobile market achieved sales of 990,000 vehicles, which is the highest point this year.
Financial crisis sequelae
Although the export of China's auto industry is showing a structural rebound, the aftermath of the financial crisis - the protectionism of exporting countries is very likely to delay the momentum of this recovery.
Recently, it was reported that Russia may extend the time limit for importing 30% import tariffs on new imported vehicles. At the end of June, the Ukrainian parliament also decided to maintain a 13% temporary import tariff on imported cars. This has directly led to a sharp decline in the number of vehicle exports to the Eastern European market. Russia was the country with the highest total vehicle export volume for three consecutive years from 2006 to 2008, but it ranked only 15th in the first half of this year.
From January to July this year, in the passenger car market in Russia, except for the increase in sales of Geely Automobile, other domestic self-owned brand companies fell across the board. According to statistics, Geely Automobile sold 5,197 vehicles in the Russian market in July this year, an increase of 414% from 1,011 vehicles in the same period of last year, becoming the highest domestic brand in the Russian market. The sales volume of Chery Automobile, the top-selling Russian company last year, fell sharply in Russia. In the previous July, only 1949 vehicles were sold, a decrease of 83% compared with 11,336 vehicles in the same period last year. In addition, in the first seven months, Lifan’s sales volume decreased by 31%, Great Wall declined by 72%, and BYD declined by 75%.
The trade friction of parts exports is even more striking. After the overseas countries have increased the import tariffs on vehicles, the United States and the European Union have successively carried out special safeguards and anti-dumping investigations on China's auto parts products such as tires and wheels.
On April 20, 2009, at the request of the United States Steel Workers’ Federation, the United States International Trade Commission initiated a special survey on China’s passenger car and light truck tires, and on June 29 proposed preliminary remedial measures to be proposed for the Chinese economy. U.S. tire products have imposed tariffs of 55%, 45% and 35% for three consecutive years. The case is the first special security investigation initiated by the Obama administration of China, and it is also the largest one. According to Chinese statistics, China’s tire exports to the United States in 2008 amounted to approximately US$2.2 billion.
At the same time, the European Union’s anti-dumping investigation against China’s auto parts products was formally initiated on the 13th in the EU Trade Commission. Once the Chinese side loses the case, the EU will impose a maximum tariff of 33% on aluminum wheels exported by China to the EU for five consecutive years, which may cause 40,000 workers in more than 50 related companies in China to face unemployment.
Chen Huiqing, the legal department of the Electrical and Mechanical Chamber of Commerce, told the China Securities Journal: “The EU Trade Commission will have a preliminary result within 9 months. If it is determined that the Chinese aluminum wheel manufacturing enterprises have dumping behavior, a temporary anti-dumping tax rate will be imposed within 15 months. There will be a final ruling to determine the tax rate for Chinese companies that have been spot checked. Other aluminum wheel companies are levied at a weighted average tax rate."
Chen Huiqing believes that the anti-dumping measures of the European Union are very unfair to Chinese companies. They do not even know where the six companies are prosecuting. In addition, Turkey, as the “cost reference country†for China’s aluminum wheels, is also the opponent’s choice. Chen Huiqing appealed to domestic aluminum wheel manufacturers to call together vehicle manufacturers and agents in downstream Europe to defend themselves against each other in order to increase their odds.
Automobile exports call for financial support
According to informed sources, the Ministry of Commerce is investigating a number of domestic automobile export enterprises and is expected to introduce a series of policy measures to promote automobile exports in the near future. According to the China Securities Journal reporter, providing financial support to export companies has become a common aspiration of export companies.
Since the financial crisis, one of the problems that caused export vehicle manufacturers to face headaches was the shortage of funding for local distributors. Most Chinese self-owned brand enterprises rely on local distributors for channel construction. However, the global financial crisis has led to a credit crunch in various countries, and dealer loans have been difficult. At the same time, sales in the auto market have been sluggish, causing dealers to have a backlog of inventory and difficulties in making payments. Therefore, many dealers intend to withdraw.
In response to the dilemma of the shrinking overseas retail market at the beginning of this year, Great Wall Motor Co., Ltd. has formulated a series of response plans and put the focus of overseas market efforts on stabilizing the network and stabilizing the confidence of distributors. Specific measures include “as far as possible to dealers. Financing support, adopting more flexible and convenient settlement methods; providing additional support for overseas distributors' new product purchase policies, prompting new products to be promoted to local terminals as soon as possible; and adopting direct financial subsidies and other measures for overseas exhibitions attended by distributors.â€
However, the company’s financial support to dealers is limited. Great Wall Motor exported a total of 15,800 complete vehicles in the first half of the year, which was a sharp decline from the 30,700 in the same period last year.
According to Fu Peizhao, foreign vehicle companies, especially commercial vehicle companies, generally adopt the method of financial leasing when exporting to overseas markets. That is, car buyers can apply to leasing companies and microfinance institutions to purchase cars from leasing companies. Before the loan is paid off, the ownership of the car belongs to the leasing company and the car buyer can repay the loan while operating. Most of China's vehicle export companies also adopt cash payment methods.
In addition, consumer finance companies of multinational auto giants such as Europe, USA and Japan are quite mature and can provide loans to car buyers. They can even let car buyers try for free for one year. However, China's auto consumption finance companies for vehicles are just starting to make it difficult to go abroad. Therefore, Fu Peizhao hopes that the policy of promoting automobile exports can help domestic commercial banks to accelerate the pace of overseas development and thus provide better financial support for vehicle vehicles.
Hew Whitt Industries International Co., Ltd. , http://www.globeautowheels.com