Medical Dressing Exports In The First Quarter Are Not Optimistic. Emerging Markets Deserve Attention.

Chinese medicine and health products import and Export Chamber of Commerce Meng Zhiying Cai Tianzhi

According to customs statistics, China in the first quarter

Total exports amounted to US $498 million, an increase of 12.02% compared with the US $444 million export volume in the same period of 2011.

In the first quarter, the medical dressings showed three characteristics: first, the slowdown in export growth, a sharp decline compared with the average growth rate of more than 30% in 2011, which was basically the same as the 11.26% increase in total exports of medical devices; two, the weak demand in Europe and the United States, and the emerging market as the main driver of export growth; three, commodity prices continued to rise slightly and tended to be stable, and the prices of cotton, gauze and bandages increased by 3.3% over the same period last year.

Overall, because of weak demand in Europe and the United States, China's export situation is not optimistic, and emerging markets deserve attention.

Slower export growth does not exclude off-season factors

In terms of monthly export volume, 1~3 months are usually off season, especially in Spring Festival holidays in February. The monthly export volume is as low as 100 million US dollars, which is only half of the average monthly export level, which has greatly affected the export of the whole quarter.

The slowdown in export growth is also affected by factors such as weak external demand, domestic employment and rising cost of raw materials.

Emerging markets are the main force to stimulate export growth.

From the regional market, China's exports to the two largest markets of the European Union and North America increased slightly in the first quarter, 1.84% and 1.47% respectively, and the total share of the two largest markets reached 65.87%.

With the active promotion of market diversification strategy, China's trade growth with emerging market countries is still relatively fast. China's export growth in the Middle East and Latin American emerging markets has reached 57.76% and 28.52% respectively.

From the national perspective, the United States, Japan and Germany are still the 3 largest markets for medical dressings in China. In the first quarter, China's exports to the 3 major markets reached 48.68%, a slight decrease compared with the same period in 2011 (50.36% in 2011).

In the top ten markets, China's exports to Japan, Germany, Australia and South Korea showed a negative growth.

Export prices of commodities continued to rise slightly.

Cotton wool

And the bandage is a bulk commodity for medical dressings exports. In the first quarter, it exported 196 million US dollars, accounting for 39.46% of the dressing exports, while exports showed a trend of volume and price rise, and exports increased by 7.75% over the same period.

Over the past year, the export price of cotton wool, gauze and bandages fluctuated slightly. The average export prices in the first quarter increased by 3.37% over the same period last year.

From the export market, the demand for European and American traditional markets has declined. In the first quarter, China's exports to North America and Europe all showed negative growth, while exports to emerging markets such as Africa, Latin America, ASEAN and the Middle East increased rapidly.

The disposable or medical nonwoven fabric made of chemical fibre is one of the bulk commodities for the export of dressings. The export volume in the first quarter was 121 million US dollars, up 13.98% from the same period last year, accounting for 24.22% of the dressing export.

Exports increased by 8.49% over the same period last year, while export prices remained stable, up 0.45% over the same period last year.

From the export market, North America and Europe are the main markets. Although the export markets of emerging markets such as ASEAN, Middle East and Africa are still relatively small, they are growing rapidly.

Business scale increased by 1.76 percentage points over the same period last year.

In the first quarter, there were 8 enterprises exporting more than 10 million US dollars, and ten of them were productive enterprises. The total export of the ten top enterprises reached 28.19%, representing a 1.76 percentage point increase compared with 26.43% in the same period last year, and the scale of operation increased.

Market share is stable and exports are expected to rebound in the two quarter.

Considering that the export growth in the first quarter is hindered mainly by the impact of the trade cycle slack season, and from the analysis of the situation that China's medical dressings occupy a more stable market share in the international market, exports in the two quarter are expected to maintain steady growth, and the growth will rebound.

But according to the enterprise, the industry development is still facing many challenges.

The pressure of rising costs in various fields such as hydropower and other raw materials and employment and the continuous rising of manufacturing costs have weakened the price advantage of our products; two, the problem of low-level duplication of construction and homogenization competition is still prominent in the industry, coupled with the lack of independent brands and marketing channels, leading enterprises to be unable to grasp the initiative of bargaining; in addition, the tight trade environment and the uncertainty of foreign market risks impede enterprises to take the "going out" pace.

Under such circumstances, enterprises still need to be calm and responsive, courage, confidence, pformation and upgrading, new product development, brand building and quality of foreign trade products.