Japan is one of my country’s three traditional export markets. However, according to statistics, in each month of 2013, my country’s exports to Japan were affected by multiple adverse factors and were always in a state of low growth or even negative growth. Exports to Japan declined throughout the year. Judging from the data for the first half of 2014, the situation in the Japanese market is hardly optimistic. According to statistics from the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textiles, since 2014, the Japanese market’s position in my country’s exports has further declined. As of the first half of the year, exports to Japan accounted for less than 9% of total exports. Exports all fell in each month from February to June this year, with a cumulative decline of 8.4% from January to June, mainly due to an 11.1% drop in apparel exports. Behind these data, how do textile companies feel about Japan’s export business?
“Sense of crisis”, “not optimistic”, “efficiency is not as good as before”, “no way”… During the reporter’s interview, several foreign trade companies exporting to Japan described the export situation of textiles and clothing in the first half of the year , all helpless.
Accelerating order flow to ASEANIntensified sense of corporate crisis
In recent years, it is no longer a new topic that Southeast Asian countries have used their low-cost labor advantages to shift some overseas orders from Chinese companies. However, with the increase in my country’s labor costs and raw material prices, many companies reported that this phenomenon became more prominent in the first half of the year. Nantong Yiren Fashion Co., Ltd. is a company that has been exporting clothing to Japan for many years. It has a complete range of products, including clothing for middle-aged and elderly people, girls’ fashion, and men’s shirts. “The situation in the first half of the year was very bad. Many of our company’s orders flowed to Southeast Asia. Although there are no specific statistics yet, the loss of orders is very obvious. In the final analysis, it is because the labor prices in Southeast Asian countries are cheap. Although some of our The products have competitive advantages in terms of quality, but compared with products exported from Southeast Asian countries, the price advantage in the past is no longer obvious. Our product prices are already very low, and now we can only guarantee basic profits.” Lin, Yiren’s overseas customs declarer Yu said.
Huang Xiaoqin, director of the import and export business of Fengtong Fashion Co., Ltd., also located in Nantong, also expressed the same view: “Since the first half of last year, our company’s orders have shown signs of decreasing. The order volume decreased significantly in October last year. There were very few orders in May this year, and it is estimated that they are unlikely to recover in the future.” Fengtong Fashion has been exporting indoor home wear and middle-aged and elderly clothing and other products to Japan since 1994. Huang Xiaoqin said that because many orders have shifted to Southeast Asia , the business indicators set by the company have not yet been completed. Currently, the company’s order volume is insufficient, the efficiency is not as good as before, and the company has a sense of crisis.
In addition to the situation reported by enterprises, we can also get a glimpse of it from the statistical data of Japanese Customs. According to statistics, Japan’s textile and clothing imports have continued to decline this year, falling by 7.8% in May. From January to May, Japan’s total imports of textiles and clothing were US$15.99 billion, down 2.6%, of which textile imports were US$3.72 billion, up 6.7%, and clothing imports were US$12.27 billion, down 5.1%. Japan’s imports from China were US$10.77 billion, a decrease of 8%, while imports from ASEAN during the same period were US$2.91 billion, an increase of 15.9%. The share of Chinese products in the Japanese market dropped to 67%, a decrease of nearly 5 percentage points from the same period in 2013. ASEAN’s share in Japan rose to 18.2%, an increase of 3 percentage points from the same period in 2013.
Weak demand in JapanBuyers are seriously undercutting prices
For foreign trade companies, the economic prosperity of the export market and residents’ consumption willingness are their top priorities. Due to the continued economic downturn, prices in the Japanese consumer market have not changed much for many years. The prices of daily necessities such as clothing, shoes and hats are also declining year by year. However, since this year, driven by the policies of the Bank of Japan and external factors, Japan has raised the consumption tax on goods from 5% to 8% on April 1. Japan’s price level has continued to rise. Not only have the prices of public products such as electricity, gas, and medical care increased, , the prices of grain, oil, real estate and other commodities closely related to life are also rising. While prices are rising, Japan’s economic situation has taken a sharp turn. In the first quarter, affected by “running consumption” before the consumption tax was raised, the economy experienced relatively high growth, but the decline in the second quarter was beyond people’s expectations. According to news released by China’s Ministry of Commerce, the latest statistics show that Japan’s household consumption expenditure fell by 8.0% year-on-year in May, retail sales fell by 4.8%, and household income fell by 4.6%. The sharp deterioration of Japan’s economic situation and the weakening consumer demand of the country’s residents have also had an adverse impact on my country’s export companies. Hou Nan, a salesperson at Dalian Luyi American Trading Company, said that the overall environment is not very good, and Japan’s economic development is sluggish. The company has been exporting clothing to Japan for more than ten years. In the past two years, exports have decreased, and the export ratio in the first half of this year was Last year the reduction was even more severe.
Hohhot Jinlun Yingte Trading Co., Ltd. is a company that exports scarves, shawls and other clothing to Japan. Liu Xiaoqing, the person in charge of the company, said: “Affected by the Japanese consumer market and the adjustment of the yen against the U.S. dollar this year, the company Orders in the first half of the year decreased by 50% to 60% compared with the same period last year. In the past, Japanese customers rarely bargained for order prices, but now they hope that we can lower the price of our products.��Our prices are already very low, and there is no way to lower the price according to the wishes of customers. As a result, customers reduce their orders, and our orders also decrease. ”
Enterprises are accelerating adjustmentsThe second half of the year is “not optimistic”
Industry experts are not optimistic about Japan’s economic development in the second half of the year. Xu Changwen, director of the Asian and African Studies Department of the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce of China, said that the substantial growth of 6.7% in the first quarter of Japan’s economy was an early overdraft for the increase in consumption tax. However, it has already shown a sharp decline from April to June, and the economy is not expected to be stable throughout the year. Great.
In this case, export companies will have more worries. Regarding the forecast for exports in the second half of the year, most companies exporting to Japan are “not optimistic.” Liu Xiaoqing said that faced with the decrease in orders in the first half of the year, the company is currently helpless and has no better adjustment strategy for the second half of the year. Lin Yu also said that in addition to the shift of orders to Southeast Asia and the economic environment in Japan that worries the company, the company’s internal production and operations are also facing some problems. For example, some local companies reported that most of the factory’s skilled sewing machinists are approaching retirement age, and the new generation of young sewing machinists have higher requirements for salary and remuneration. Some companies are facing the problem of insufficient number of skilled technicians. Yiren Company’s sewing machines The number of workers is short by about 30%. This situation has also indirectly caused the problem of reduced corporate orders. At present, some southern companies have begun to turn to Southeast Asia to set up processing plants, hoping to use the local cheap labor to save costs. Yiren Company currently has the same consideration. In addition, it will make multi-faceted investments instead of just focusing on the clothing business. exit.
