EU Trade Barriers Weigh Heavily On How To Break Through The Export Of Chinese Shoe Enterprises?

In October 7th last year, the European Union formally imposed 16.5% anti-dumping duties on Chinese shoe companies. In September this year, the EU launched an anti circumvention investigation on the export of Chinese leather shoes to Macao.

According to the relevant EU regulations, if the export of leather shoes exported to the EU has been circumventing by Macao, the European Commission will impose anti-dumping duties on such products.

This is another challenge for my export shoe enterprises, which is no less lethal than anti-dumping investigation.

Analysis of the industry, at present, the situation in front of Chinese shoe enterprises is not optimistic.

Due to the heavy pressure of the EU's wave of "anti-dumping rods", the constraints faced by the export of "Chinese shoes" can not be ignored for quite some time.

How to get rid of this situation as soon as possible and change passivity into initiative is an urgent task.

So far, a series of targeted breakout paths and measures adopted by Wenzhou shoe companies will be a useful reference for China's export shoe enterprises.

Active prosecution, "let the EU hear our voice" began in October 7, 2006, the EU formally imposed 16.5% anti-dumping duties on Chinese leather shoes and children's shoes for two years.

Some European importers have imposed provisional tariffs since April last year, or require our export enterprises to take part of the tax rate, or gradually reduce orders in China, and turn to neighboring countries such as India, Indonesia and Thailand.

Zhejiang exports nearly 1 billion pairs of shoes each year, and the largest export market is the European Union.

The EU's anti-dumping policy has a huge impact on Zhejiang shoe enterprises.

In the first month after the 16.5% anti-dumping duty was imposed, the number and value of leather shoes exported to Wenzhou by EU decreased by 48.49% and 45.90% respectively compared with the same period last year.

Due to the setback of the EU anti-dumping policy, many domestic shoe companies have indicated that they should take up legal weapons to safeguard their rights and interests.

In October 23, 2006, Wenzhou AOKANG group, the largest private shoe making enterprise in China, first announced a lawsuit against the European Union Court, accusing the European Union of imposing anti-dumping duties of 16.5% on Chinese footwear enterprises.

Then, Wenzhou Tamar group, Guangdong Foshan Nanhai Golden Shoe Industry Co., Ltd. and Guangdong Huizhou new Hong Kong dollar Footwear Co., Ltd. also announced appeals one after another.

In January 8th, 3 months after the EU imposed anti-dumping sanctions against the Chinese footwear industry, AOKANG joined the three other appeals companies, including Wenzhou Tamar, and held a "briefing on anti dumping litigation" by Beijing footwear manufacturers, and announced an alliance to set up an anti trade barriers cooperation organization.

Wang Zhentao, President of AOKANG group, said that the EU has already decided to impose anti-dumping duties on Chinese leather shoes. If it is tacit to acquiescence and tolerance, two years later, it may face higher anti-dumping duties.

The Chinese shoe companies have filed a lawsuit this year to let the EU hear the voice of Chinese shoe companies.

That is to say, if Chinese enterprises can endure these two years, then they will formulate a policy of 5 years or even more, or impose higher taxes, and Chinese shoe enterprises will lose a lot.

"If we win, the European Commission may therefore cancel the anti-dumping duty on Chinese footwear enterprises for the next 5 years.

But the European Union did not lose because they had been taxed for two years.

Even if we lose, we can learn a lot from it.

"Wang Zhentao said that in the process of going out, Chinese enterprises will eventually encounter all kinds of trade barriers, forcing enterprises to learn, deal with and accept challenges. This is a growth and pformation, and also a boost to the improvement of the industry.

At least 50 Wenzhou shoe manufacturers attended the exhibition at the German Dusseldorf international shoes exhibition (GDS), which was held in from September 14th to 16th this year by the international shoe exhibition GDS.

Dusseldorf Exhibition (China) Limited project director Bai Jiao said that the exhibition area of Chinese enterprises on GDS was about 11000 square meters, of which Wenzhou shoes enterprises accounted for almost 1/3.

Dozens of Wenzhou shoe companies such as Kangnai, Tamar, sumet, Mercedes Benz, Italy, trend, Tai Chi and fulio are "Crazy" orders at this international shoe exhibition.

For Wenzhou shoes, GDS is a more important international shoe exhibition than the Canton Fair.

Some Wenzhou shoemaker owners even said that the number of orders received on GDS decided the shoe factory's foreign trade fate for a year.

Wenzhou's Dongyi, jelda, Tamar, Charlie and other footwear large foreign trade households, are GDS's old customers.

These enterprises, when they set foot in foreign trade in the early 90s of last century, had an indissoluble bond with GDS.

Li Guoguang, manager of Foreign Affairs Department of Wenzhou Jill Da shoes company, feedback from the exhibition site is that the exhibitors in Guangzhou, Fujian and Chengdu are mostly exhibitors by foreign trade companies, and dozens of shoe brands in Wenzhou are directly exhibiting by shoe manufacturers.

A total of more than 400 shoe models of the more than 40 shoe models presented by Guang Ji Da Shoes Co., Ltd. has about 400000 pairs of intentional orders.

Charlie, chairman of the footwear industry in Wenzhou, Xie Weiguo, said that Charlie footwear industry, which has participated in GDS since 1995, has had a good harvest from 1997.

The partnership with Carrefour was established through GDS.

Now, there are more than ten thousand pairs of leather shoes produced by Charlie every year under the orders of Carrefour, and the price of each pair of orders is more than 110 yuan.

Not only that, there are hundreds of thousands of pairs of shoes ordered by Peres and Charlie every year at Charlie.

Now Charlie's shoes are exported to more than 100 countries and regions.

After stepping up the "Silk Road" and "the east does not brighten the west," since last year, in the case of the European Union levying anti-dumping duties and reducing the European orders for Chinese shoes by 20%, Wenzhou shoe traders once again took their sights back to the Central Asian market. They tried to use this as a springboard to stabilize their share in the overseas market.

Statistics from various ports in Xinjiang show that the value of footwear exported from Xinjiang port reached 963000000 US dollars last year. This figure is nearly half of the export volume of Wenzhou's shoes exported to China, and Xinjiang, which is adjacent to the eight countries, is launching a boom in footwear exports.

The export of Chinese shoes from Xinjiang port to the West has been a major export trend in recent years, but the surge in exports began two years ago.

As early as more than ten years ago, "made in Wenzhou" had passed through land pportation to Xinjiang via central Asia. However, after opening up a stronger European and American market, Wenzhou businessmen soon abandoned this channel.

Recent signs indicate that Wenzhou shoe traders are sending their products to Xinjiang again. They hope to find a more secure and stable market through the large western border with many border trade ports and the eight countries of central and Western Asia.

According to a Wenzhou person who was doing business in Urumqi, Xinjiang, the EU introduced anti-dumping duties policy to make Wenzhou's shipping channel a "target of public criticism". The way through which Xinjiang's land ports enter the Central Asian market is a new way of meeting multilateral interests.

Xinjiang Wenzhou chamber of Commerce, a responsible person said, Wenzhou shoes to abandon shipping by land to Central Asia, the result of Wenzhou businessmen feel helpless, because they had thought of abandoning the land passage.

It is also an inevitable choice for Wenzhou shoes to abandon maritime pportation and land.

Analysts believe that it is precisely because of several disasters, prompting Wenzhou shoes to accelerate integration into the international market.

The EU's policy of raising the threshold has forced some of the main export players of the footwear industry in Wenzhou to abandon and turn to Central Asian and Eastern European countries.

At the same time, Wenzhou shoe companies can also expand their share of the EU market by making use of the convenience of Eastern Europe close to the European Union.

To raise prices and raise prices is the main magic weapon for Wenzhou shoes to overcome trade barriers.

In 2006, the export volume of Wenzhou shoes increased by 10.41% over the previous year, but the amount increased by 26.04% compared with last year, and the growth rate of export volume was obviously higher than that of export volume.

This year, the EU is still a major market for footwear exports in Wenzhou.

However, affected by the EU anti-dumping duty, the number of leather shoes exported to the EU in Wenzhou decreased year by year, and the average unit price increased.

According to Wenzhou customs data, in the first half of this year, Wenzhou exported 10 million 970 thousand pairs of leather shoes to the EU, with an amount of US $93 million 920 thousand; compared with the same period last year, the number of goods dropped by 10.39% and the amount increased by 3.82%.

According to Wenzhou customs statistics, the first three quarters of this year, Wenzhou footwear products exported 59225 batches, 483 million pairs, 2 billion 93 million US dollars, compared with the same period last year, batches increased 11.7%, the number increased 9.9%, the amount increased 18.4%, the average price was 4.34 dollars per pair, up 7.7% over the same period.

In October, when the EU imposed anti-dumping duties on some leather shoes in China, footwear exports in Wenzhou still maintained a growth trend.

According to Wenzhou customs latest statistics, last month, Wenzhou footwear exports 159 million US dollars, an increase of 8.82% over the same period, the export volume was 34 million 240 thousand pairs, an increase of 0.69%.

Among them, the export of leather shoes to the European Union has seen a rise in price.

The city's leather shoes exports to the EU 9 million 860 thousand US dollars, an increase of 4.06%; the export volume is 1 million 100 thousand pairs, a decrease of 10.85%, while the average unit price has increased by 16.73%.

This shows that after the anti-dumping duty was imposed, the export value of Wenzhou leather shoes exported to the EU increased and the average price increased. This shows that the added value and technical content of leather shoes exported to EU have improved significantly. It shows that Wenzhou footwear export enterprises have actively responded to anti-dumping and worked hard, and have achieved success in getting rid of the "quantity win" and "low price competition" mode of growth.

In the process of China's footwear products going to the international market, most of them adopt the strategy of low price competition, and the products are mostly concentrated in the low-end market.

At present, anti-dumping duties on Chinese shoe companies frequently take advantage of technical barriers, aiming at low grade products with low technical content.

Zheng Xiukang, chairman of Kangnai group, believes that the EU's anti-dumping measures against Chinese leather shoes can not block the pace of China's footwear industry entering the international market as a whole, but it will produce a phased obstacle to the development of China's footwear industry.

Under such circumstances, Chinese enterprises should increase their independent innovation efforts, grasp core technologies and create world-class brands so as to occupy the international high-end market.