EU Ban On Fumaric Acid Two Methyl Ester Causes Shoe Companies Concern

　　富馬酸二甲酯，這個陌生的化學名詞，眼下成為不少浙江鞋企老板的煩心事。今天來自杭州檢驗檢疫局的消息說，歐盟已決定將富馬酸二甲酯禁令有效期延長一年至2011年3月15日，我省鞋企對歐盟出口需引起重視。 

It is reported that the two methyl fumarate is the main active ingredient of desiccant in shoes and clothing, furniture and other products. It has bactericidal and mildew preventive functions. Excessive use can cause skin allergies, rashes or burns.

In 2009, the EU issued a ban on methyl esters of fumaric acid, which has been repeatedly recalled by Chinese footwear and toy products for containing two of this substance.

In accordance with the European Union's ban, if the product contains two methyl fumarate in the desiccant and exceeds the standard, it will cause the whole batch of products to be returned or recalled.

The ban on two methyl fumarate is just the tip of the iceberg.

Recently, the Ningbo inspection and Quarantine Bureau released a survey report that last year, in the Ningbo export enterprises surveyed, the proportion of foreign technology barriers to different levels was more than half for the first time. On average, each enterprise encountered 8 technical barriers, a direct loss of 1 billion 136 million dollars, and an opportunity loss of 1 billion 624 million dollars.

Enterprises have generally regarded "technical measures" as the second major export barriers after the "weak foreign market".

In the first quarter of this year, the export market of the province generally recovered, but the grim situation of technical barriers did not return to normal.

Huang Ting, deputy director of the WTO Office of Ningbo inspection and Quarantine Bureau, told reporters that in the first quarter of this year, foreign technical requirements, WTO members issued a total of 542 technical barriers, and continued to maintain the same period last year.

It is worth mentioning that after the construction of high-tech barriers in Europe and America, the practice of some enterprises in the battle against emerging markets is also beginning to fail.

Huang Ting told reporters that at present, the technical requirements of emerging markets are also increasing in comparison with Europe and the United States, such as the technical measures in the Middle East market last year, resulting in the loss of enterprises in Ningbo amounted to 92 million US dollars, accounting for 8.1% of the total loss.

The situation of technological barriers that are backward from market warming is a warning for Zhejiang enterprises to accelerate technological innovation, pformation and upgrading.

Huang Ting said that foreign technology requirements are becoming stricter and even stricter, most of which involve safety, health and environmental protection. Objectively speaking, these requirements also reflect the trend of global product development on the one hand.

Therefore, Zhejiang enterprises must attach great importance to the pformation and upgrading signals behind the technical barriers, and accelerate the upgrading of products and industries.

Experts also pointed out that in the context of "remanufacturing" in Europe and the United States, Zhejiang export products may be "face to face" with the local industrial products of developed countries in the future, and the continuous construction of high technical barriers may become a pioneer of "remanufacturing" in developed countries. If they can not meet these technical requirements, "made in Zhejiang" will not only be difficult to keep the share of the international market in the future, even the space of the domestic market may be seized by foreign counterparts.