Is EU Anti-Dumping Duty The Last Hurdle For Shoe Companies?

March 23rd news went through six years of hard defense, China.

Wang Zhentao, chairman of AOKANG group, said on the same day that the cancellation of dumping duties is a "burden reduction" for export enterprises.

This means that the EU's anti-dumping measures against China for 16 years have come to an end, and Chinese shoe enterprises will also get rid of 16.5% of the high anti-dumping duties.

However, behind this great news, through the essence of "anti-dumping", I have caused two cold thoughts.

In today's economic globalization, competition in various industries is becoming more and more intense. For Chinese shoe companies with cost advantages, there is great opportunity to expand the international market, which will naturally be squeezed out by other countries.

Trade protectionism is gaining momentum and trade frictions are intensifying, making Chinese shoe companies in a dilemma. On the one hand, they are eager to expand their new development areas, and on the other hand, they are under the pressure of trade protection. This really makes Chinese shoe companies difficult.

The EU's anti-dumping investigation of Chinese shoes is mainly attributed to the impact of Chinese shoes on the European footwear industry and the reduction of employment opportunities.

But in fact, this is not the case. Anti dumping not only hinders the development of China's shoe enterprises, but also hurts the EU's own economic interests, and is not conducive to the overall situation of developing bilateral strategic partnership.

In fact, the European shoe industry slump is not directly related to Chinese shoes entering the European market.

After the vigorous anti-dumping measures, the European Union left behind a scar that hurt its own interests.

According to the statistics of the European Commission, the footwear industry in Europe has seen a marked decline before the global quota of footwear products was abolished in 2005.

From 1999 to 2001, the European Union's shoe production went from bad to worse.

As exports declined, imports continued to grow, resulting in the EU's market share of domestic manufacturers falling from 58% in 1999 to 48% in 2002. The European footwear industry has been laying off losses due to losses.

Under such circumstances, it is the Chinese shoe enterprises that have brought vitality to the European retail industry.

According to statistics, in 2003, there were about 12600 shoemaking enterprises in the EU, employing about 31700 workers, accounting for only 0.91% of the total number of EU manufacturing workers.

There are 80000 retail outlets for footwear products in the European Union, and more than 30000 jobs are created. With the boom in the footwear market, the number of employment in related services is increasing.

In view of this, the anti dumping evidence put forward by the European Union before is really groundless and absurd.

While importing anti-dumping duties on Chinese shoes, the import cost of Chinese shoes will be increased. This means that importers and retailers of the EU should also increase the buying price. For those shoes that lose their price advantage, the goal of widening the market will become extremely difficult. For those consumers who like Chinese shoes, they will have to spend more purchasing cost to get satisfied products.

Moreover, with more and more EU enterprises outsourcing production to China and other developing countries in order to reduce costs, the EU's anti-dumping measures also damage the interests of these pnational enterprises.

In addition, the number of leather shoes imported from China has been replaced by leather shoes from other countries.

Chinese shoe manufacturers say that many European customers have turned to countries such as Pakistan, Indonesia, India and Macao.

The media also reported that the industry in Austria analyzed the market reaction of the EU's implementation of the measure and found that the import of cheap footwear did not decrease.

People in the industry believe that this is because the footwear industry is a typical "jumper" industry, which relies mainly on labor and related low cost to achieve competitive benefits. Therefore, the EU's trade protection measures to avoid the impact of the European local footwear industry are of no practical significance.

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The anti-dumping that lasted for six years is a big blow for Chinese shoe enterprises.

While condemning the EU's irrational trade protectionism, Chinese shoe companies should also reflect on themselves.

In China, there are indeed a few export shoe enterprises in the employment system, export links and other aspects of the existence of the principle of fair competition, which needs to be corrected and improved.

Many shoe enterprises also lack the knowledge of international trade activities, so that they are passive in anti-dumping.

According to the news, although the Chinese shoe enterprises have won the "shoe warfare" marathon, the EU has begun to seek new regulatory measures and has introduced five measures for Chinese shoes.

Specifically, weekly monitoring should be conducted to ensure that there is no unfair behavior.

After this painful lesson, Chinese shoe enterprises should learn from their mistakes and pay attention to the full understanding and mastery of modern trade rules in the future development, pay attention to the progress of international market economy, and constantly enhance their own strength, lead enterprises' progress with scientific and technological innovation, get rid of the means of taking price advantage as the main market occupation, and create a brand with strong advantages.

In the face of anti-dumping, all shoe enterprises should work together to respond positively, defend their legitimate interests by legal means, and enhance their ability to deal with anti-dumping proceedings.

At the same time, Chinese shoe enterprises can also find other regions abroad as a springboard for developing international market, avoiding the pition dependence on an international market, reducing the marsh entering antidumping, and striving for greater development space for themselves.

"Shoe warfare" schedule:

In 2005, the European Commission launched anti-dumping investigations on leather shoes made in China and Vietnam.

In May 2006, the EU imposed a 16.5% anti-dumping duty on leather shoes originating in China, with a period of two years.

After the end of 2008, it entered the sunset review (that is, not to change the measures, only to decide whether to "maintain" or "Cancel"). 7 shoe companies such as Zhejiang AOKANG and Fujian Jian Le were sucked in, and entered the written reply procedure. Zhejiang only AOKANG one.

In December 2009, the European Commission again ruled that the anti-dumping duty would be extended for 15 months until March 2011.