The increasingly stringent regulatory barriers in foreign markets have continued to increase the “burden” on the shoulders of export companies.
Recently, regions and countries such as the European Union, the United States, and Australia have issued a series of regulations and standards on textiles and clothing, putting forward higher requirements for related products. It is reported that Quanzhou is my country’s main textile and apparel production and export base, with annual exports exceeding US$5 billion. These countries account for more than half of Quanzhou’s textile and apparel exports. Frequent barriers are bound to have a certain impact on the exports of local textile and apparel companies. Industry insiders reminded that relevant companies need to understand the content of regulations in a timely manner and actively take countermeasures.
Exports will encounter “three barriers”
Export profit margin compression
Recently, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) made final revisions to its textile labeling rules, including rules for fiber content and country of origin labeling. The new rules implement the Textile Fiber Products Identification Act and require that the labels of some textile products sold in the United States should prominently indicate the common name of the textile, the content percentage, the name of the manufacturer or seller, and the country of production or processing. While the United States continues to raise textile import barriers, the International Environmentally Friendly Textile Association OEKO-TEX has also recently announced the 2014 version of the OEKO-TEX Standard 100 ecological and environmentally friendly textile testing standards and limit values. The new version of the standard will have stricter supervision of perfluorooctanoic acid PFOA.
In addition, Australia’s “Good Environmental Choice Label” (GEC) recently released a new standard for environmentally friendly textile leather certification. The standard requires that at least 90% of the weight of textile and clothing products and accessories should be textile fibers; 90% of the weight of indoor textiles and cleaning cloths must be textile fibers, yarns and fabrics or non-woven fabrics; and at least 90% of the weight of leather products must be made of textile fibers. Genuine leather material.
“In summary, the implementation of these regulations has set up ‘three thresholds’ for the export of textile and apparel products.” Industry insiders analyzed that these “three thresholds” include safety thresholds, green thresholds and label thresholds.
Shi Zhengzhi, secretary-general of the Quanzhou Textile and Garment Chamber of Commerce, believes that increasingly stringent regulatory barriers in foreign markets not only have a certain impact on local textile and apparel exports and increase the burden on enterprises, but also put my country’s textile and apparel in an unfair and unfair position in world trade. It is a manifestation of unequal competition, but objectively speaking, most of China’s textile and apparel products are still in the low-end and mid-range grades. Compared with developed Western countries, there is still a considerable gap.
Frequent trade barriers will inevitably put forward higher requirements for local products exported to relevant countries. In order to adapt to new standards and regulations, export enterprises must increase corresponding registration and testing fees. This also increases the export risks of enterprises and reduces their Product price competitiveness.
“Although the export market has generally recovered this year, export profits have not increased accordingly, but have declined.” Some textile and garment export companies told reporters that in the past, OEM profits could reach 15% of the processing fee, but now they have reduced to less than 10%.
“Compared to previous years, trade barriers have occurred more frequently in the European and American markets in recent years, especially the requirements for fabrics have become higher and higher.” Bailufu (Quanzhou) Sports Goods Co., Ltd. is a company targeting the European and American markets, mainly focusing on Xiao Shengxin, business manager of a company that mainly produces outdoor clothing, said frankly that compared to other categories of clothing companies, outdoor clothing has more requirements for fabrics.
“Years ago, we paid great attention to the environmental protection of product fabrics. In recent years, many companies from European countries and regions have put forward stringent requirements for product fabrics. Recently, a Norwegian customer specified a The fabric of this product must be higher than the environmental protection level. Compared with ordinary fabrics, this kind of fabric is three yuan more expensive per meter.” Having been in foreign trade for nearly ten years, Xiao Shengxin couldn’t help but sigh. Compared with before, the profit margin of foreign trade now is There are a lot less, and foreign merchants have become more demanding on products, which puts companies under a lot of pressure.
Cai Zhulong, chairman of Fujian Zhulong Garment Co., Ltd., also admitted that the increasingly stringent regulatory requirements in foreign markets have increased the company’s product testing costs to a certain extent. “In the past, we only needed to test finished products, but now we only need to test finished products before and during production. , postpartum, related materials and products must be tested. European and American customers are particularly strict and sometimes ask third-party testing agencies to come to the company to test our products.”
In this regard, Zhulong Company has specially cooperated with the Fujian Provincial Fiber Inspection Bureau, which to a large extent ensures the quality of the company’s products but also increases its product testing costs. “Originally, the cost of raw materials and labor has been rising. Now, in order to deal with trade barriers, even the corresponding registration and testing fees have increased. In order to ensure profits, we have to increase the price of our products.” Cai Zhulong said.
Faced with increasingly stringent regulatory barriers in foreign markets, Shi Zhengzhi reminded export companies to accelerate transformation and upgrading. When developing and designing products, they must not only consider the shape and function of the product, but also actively adopt the inspection standards of the exporting country. Green technology can improve the competitiveness of enterprises. At the same time, it is necessary to establish the quality awareness of enterprises, increase self-inspection and self-control of export products, and reduce export resistance.
“In recent years, as consumer product safetyAs attention to the project increases, the safety standards and supervision of daily consumer goods, especially imported consumer goods, in the United States are also increasing, and recalls of Chinese textile, footwear and hat consumer products are frequently reported. “In this regard, industry insiders suggest that, on the one hand, enterprises should promptly and fully grasp the standards and regulations of the importing country on technology, quality, safety, environmental protection, packaging and labeling of textiles and clothing, and continuously improve quality management based on the production situation of the enterprise. system, and do not blindly pursue beauty and low prices while neglecting product quality. On the other hand, we must pay close attention to the recall trends reported by the US CPSC, enhance risk awareness and standard concepts, and organize product design, research and development, and material procurement in strict accordance with the mandatory requirements of the importing country. And supplier evaluation, safety and environmental protection project testing.
Zhong Ruichun, assistant to the chairman of Jinjiang Qicaihu Garment Weaving Co., Ltd., told reporters that the company’s products are mainly exported to European and American markets. European and American consumers have strong spending power and pay attention to clothing but not fashion. They pay more attention to fabrics and textures. I have a special liking for pure natural fabrics and green and environmentally friendly products. Therefore, the company is also strict in the selection of upstream material suppliers to ensure product quality. “In terms of fabric selection, we choose cotton products that European buyers like. After special processing, they are comfortable and not easy to deform.”
“To deal with export barriers, we must first improve product quality and make it meet export standards, but more importantly, we must strive to make product styles and designs in line with international standards.” Cai Zhulong told reporters that in the face of the ever-changing export market With many competitors, blindly trying to win by lowering prices is never a long-term solution. Based on rigorous market research, we must boldly create new products to attract the attention of customers. “Today’s buyers pay great attention to the environmental protection of products, so we naturally have to work hard in this area and attract them with typical green products.”
In Shi Zhengzhi’s view, in the face of new standards and new regulations, local textile and apparel companies should respond to the pressure as motivation and work together to improve the level of the entire industry chain, because textile and apparel is an industry chain, and some new standards are targeted at clothing end products. In order to adapt to the new standards, testing must start from the source, that is, attention must be paid to the spinning and weaving links, especially the dyeing and finishing links.
