The Global Spread Of The Epidemic Has Increased The Uncertainty Of International Orders: How Do Textile Foreign Trade Enterprises Survive The Hard Times?

"The company received notification from the US and British customers today that it will not be allowed within half a month. As to how to deal with the order, they said they would look at the situation in half a month. In March 18th, Liao Hongying, assistant general manager of Linde Textile Co., Ltd., told reporters. Just a week ago, she was still lamenting the orders: "the orders were all in July, but now they are not easy to talk about."

Pressure upgrade business frustrated

According to the press survey, many foreign textile enterprises have reduced orders, suspended or delayed delivery or cancelled orders. Many industry insiders told reporters that the domestic epidemic situation was gradually stable, and the factory capacity is currently rising. However, with the continuous spread of foreign epidemic situation, the foreign trade orders of enterprises have been greatly affected.

"H&M, ZARA, Old Navy, WAL-MART and other international brands are cancelling orders. The company's products are sent to Vietnam, and brands are not accepted. We are also very confused now, because just a few days ago, the workshop was still hot, and the transport car was not enough. And overnight, orders suddenly disappeared.

"This year's off-season has been two months earlier than in previous years. The cancellation of the list, even if it has not been cancelled, is also somewhat baffling. If we rush to make an order, we fear that the subsequent suspension will be suspended. If we do not rush to do it, we will not be able to pay the delivery date. "

"The first thing I do now after getting up every morning is to focus on domestic epidemic data and focus on foreign epidemic data. Now, Nike and Adidas have closed down direct outlets in the Canadian market. Our orders have all stopped. "

In the WeChat group of many industries, the bitter water of textile foreign trade is being "cleaned up" - orders are not cancelled, they are on the way of being cancelled. And this situation is not only in small and medium enterprises, but also recently, the responsible person of Shandong Ruyi group's secretaries general said publicly that the overseas market of the company is mainly concentrated in Europe. If the epidemic continues to spread abroad, this business will be affected. Earnings data show that in the first half of 2019, nearly 4 of the company's revenue came from exports.

"This situation may continue until the second half of this year." Liao Hongying believes that at present, the global customers have no clear idea about the duration, impact and response measures of the epidemic, and are still in wait-and-see state, so most of them have proposed to postpone the delivery of orders, and first reduce procurement.

"Reduction in foreign trade orders is obvious. Because of the impact of the epidemic, many western enterprises are now closed down, trade activities and personnel exchanges have stopped, and trade orders have naturally disappeared. Zhang Handong, chief representative of Zhejiang's representative office in Germany (Europe) said. The decline of domestic demand in other countries means that China's external demand is decreasing. Zhang Handong pointed out that Europe is China's largest trading partner, followed by the United States, followed by Japan and South Korea. The total trade volume in the EU, the United States and Japan and South Korea each year is about half of China's total trade, and the epidemic in these places is more serious, especially in the EU.

On March 19th, Jiang Fan, a first class inspector of the foreign trade division of the Ministry of Commerce, said at a news conference held by the Ministry of commerce that at present, the new crown pneumonia epidemic is spreading all over the world, and some areas such as production and consumption have been impacted, trade activities have been reduced, and the downward pressure on the global economy has increased. In the coming period, China's foreign trade enterprises may encounter problems such as sluggish external demand and reduced orders.

From outside to memory is difficult.

In order to actively "save themselves", many foreign trade enterprises have begun to take the way of export to domestic sales, including live broadcasting with goods, trying to sell on electricity suppliers, social platforms, and domestic orders. In the industry view, this may be a new opportunity for foreign trade textile enterprises.

"This cotton linen curtain cloth is a new product with dustproof effect. Welcome to consult." In March 20th, in Keqiao, China's Textile City North market, a sales department, "after 90" cloth business Zhang Hong Hao opened live broadcast, and buyers online interaction. It is understood that his company mainly engaged in polyester cotton cloth, bamboo linen, snowflake yarn and other products, domestic sales and foreign trade coexist. And the live broadcast, Zhang hung Hao hopes to further open the door to the domestic market.

On the same day, the 2020 textile cloud exhibition, which was hosted by China Textile City Construction Management Committee, Keqiao District Commerce Bureau and China Textile City Group, was officially opened. More than 120 exhibitors were exhibiting products through the network, of which 69 enterprises were interacting with merchants through live broadcast. The exhibition has 6 major online exhibitions: Women's clothing, men's clothing, baby fabrics, printed fabrics, industrial fabrics, home textile accessories, and textile enterprises can participate in the exhibition. Buyers can place the order directly on the exhibits page.

Zhang Handong said that in the case of outbreaks of foreign epidemic and the gradual stabilization of China's epidemic situation, export to domestic sales is indeed a way of "self rescue". In 2008, when the external financial crisis was sluggish, many domestic enterprises tried to sell their products domestically.

"Foreign trade fabric enterprises turn to domestic sales and have certain advantages in products." According to the analysis of people in the industry, the design of clothing patterns in China mostly comes from abroad. The fabrics of foreign trade tend to be more fashionable in products, more fashionable and competitive. Therefore, foreign trade enterprises will be able to open up a new world of refurbishment.

However, when a reporter interviewed some enterprises that had been "transferred from abroad", some of the officials interviewed by the company admitted that the domestic market was quite tired.

On the one hand, in recent years, the wind direction of the domestic textile market has also changed. According to the National Bureau of statistics, in 2019, the growth rate of China's textile and clothing domestic market slowed down, and the retail sales of clothing shoes and hats and needle textiles were 13517 billion yuan, an increase of 2.9% over the same period last year, and the growth rate slowed down 5.1 percentage points compared with 2018.

On the other hand, the "rules of the game" in the domestic market is quite different from that in the foreign trade market. "In traditional foreign trade, enterprises can advance smoothly as long as they fulfill their contracts according to the contract. And domestic trade is much more complicated, including product line planning, channel development, brand building, sales team building, and so on, and enterprises must also take inventory risks in doing domestic trade. A Zhejiang fabric enterprise official said.

Take measures to raise the strength of policies

The soldiers came to block the water. Faced with the double pressure of epidemic challenges and domestic and foreign markets, a number of anti epidemic policies supporting foreign trade enterprises have been launched to support enterprises in accelerating the resumption of work and production.

In March 19th, the general office of the Ministry of Commerce and the general office of the Ministry of Finance issued the notice on "making good use of special funds for domestic and foreign trade to support the steady foreign trade, stabilizing foreign investment and promoting consumption" (hereinafter referred to as the notice), and proposed to give full play to the effectiveness of the central government's foreign trade funds, fully support the basic market for foreign trade and foreign investment, increase support for promoting domestic consumption, and release the great potential of business development everywhere. And powerful kinetic energy.

The circular clearly stated that special funds for foreign trade and economic development should be tilted in the field of foreign trade and economic cooperation, which will be greatly affected by the epidemic, help enterprises to develop diversified markets, encourage innovation and development in service trade, guide and strengthen credit insurance support, and increase support for small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises. We will support the development of the platform for attracting investment from the opening up to the outside world and the development of the "small group" in the border area and the cross border area, and improve the foreign investment in promoting the public service system. We should guide enterprises to carry out foreign investment cooperation in an orderly way, support the Midwest and Northeast China to undertake processing trade, and stabilize the supply chain of industrial chains.

In addition, there are many other policies for reestablishing foreign trade enterprises, which provide support for import and export enterprises to facilitate customs clearance from two aspects of time and procedure. For example, streamline procedures such as registration, filing, alteration and so on in the process, simplify the approval process of special medical materials, shorten the time of examination and approval of food quarantine, speed up administrative punishment, reduce unpacking inspection and increase the proportion of machine inspection. These measures can effectively enhance the efficiency of transport and customs clearance of foreign trade products, and improve the turnover efficiency of remanufacturing and foreign trade enterprises.

"In the face of this epidemic, for enterprises, the receipt and completion of orders is the only way to survive. It is suggested that larger stocks should be allowed to go on the market, and the transaction can be allowed to make profits; the lower inventory prices can be temporarily stable, and insist on the principle of" single production "," follow suit "and" strict control of stock ". We must realize that we cannot "put eggs in the same basket". We must truly globalized the market to blossom more and minimize risks. Liao Hongying believes that the epidemic is temporary and China's textile foreign trade market will also be warmer. Through the efforts of enterprises and the strength of policies, the textile foreign trade market will surely tide over the difficulties ahead and usher in a good time for export.