Plastics Processing Industry: Concerns about the Continuing Growth

In 2011, the development of the plastics processing industry was a mixed one. The good news is that under the circumstances of a significant global economic downturn, the output, main business income, total profits and taxes, and total profit of enterprises above designated size in China's plastics processing industry have maintained a relatively high rate of growth, indicating that the industry has maintained a good growth trend; The worry is that at the same time of output growth, the growth rate of the main economic indicators of the plastics processing industry is lower than that of the same period of 2010. The profit growth rate has fallen by a large margin and the industry’s loss has increased. The operating rate of small and medium-sized plastics processing companies has declined, in particular, for some SMEs. Production and management have already fallen into the unenviable predicament.

According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, in 2011, the output of plastic products of enterprises above designated size in the plastics processing industry was 54.743 million tons, an increase of 22.35% over the previous year. From January to November, the main business income of the above-scale enterprises in the plastics processing industry was 1,398.77 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 27.73%; the profit was 73.83 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 29.32%; the loss-making enterprises were a loss of 4.351 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 43.65%. It can be seen that although the industry's major economic indicators have all increased by more than 20%, both the loss surface and the loss have increased, and the number of employees has fallen. This fully supports the mixed situation of the plastics processing industry.

Some people in the industry use "internal worries and difficulties" to describe the current environment facing the plastics processing industry. "Outside difficulties" are mainly manifested in the slowdown in world economic growth, various types of risks have increased significantly, and the growth rate of international trade has fallen. The export of plastic products in China has been greatly affected. According to the data provided by the Ministry of Information Technology of the China Plastics Processing Industry Association, the export volume of plastic products in China was 13.407 million tons in 2011, a decrease of 10.77% from the previous year. The proportion of export delivery value to the sales value also decreased, and the export market was shrinking. .

The downturn in the export market can be seen in the performance of the Taizhou region in Zhejiang, which is known as the "kingdom of plastics." According to Chen Jiazeng, director of the Office of Zhejiang Taizhou Plastics Industry Association, due to the world economic recession and the appreciation of the economy, the production and export volume of plastic products in Taizhou decreased in 2011, and the decline rate reached about 20%, even more than finance. After the crisis broke out, it was even worse from 2008 to 2009. In previous years, the Canton Fair Taizhou plastics processing company will generally get back many orders, and companies that participated in the Canton Fair in 2011 generally reflect that orders are not as good as in previous years. Under pressure, some plastics processing companies in Taizhou have taken holidays earlier than the Spring Festival in 2012. Most of the companies that started construction have not yet reached full capacity.

The “internal concerns” are mainly manifested in the fact that the country’s moderately tight monetary policy and severe regulation of the real estate industry have caused plastics processing companies to face a series of difficulties such as difficulties in capital turnover and shrinking market demand. The size of China's plastics processing companies is generally small, and the country’s shrinking credits have caused some small businesses to lack sufficient working capital and production is difficult to sustain. The state's control over the real estate industry has led to a significant decline in the consumption of plastic pipe and plastic profiled materials. According to Chen Hezhong, chairman of Jiangsu Global Engineering Pipeline Co., Ltd., from the second half of 2011, the plastic pipe industry experienced severe overcapacity. The fierce market competition, rising labor costs, and exchange rate fluctuations further squeezed companies. Profit space.

As the first province of plastic products in Guangdong Province, Guangdong Province, the situation in 2011 is not optimistic. According to Fu An, president of the Guangdong Plastics Industry Association, rising costs are an important reason for squeezing corporate profits. First, the cost of environmental protection has increased. In order to achieve the mission of energy saving and emission reduction, local governments have all stepped up the efforts to control environmental pollution, virtually increasing the production costs of plastics processing companies. Second, the long-term operation of raw material costs is high, rents for land and factories have risen, and labor costs have risen. All this has led to a significant increase in the production and operating costs of enterprises. The third is the increase in product safety costs. With the increase of people's awareness of product safety, the safety standards for plastic products are also rising.

Cao Yu, executive vice chairman of the China Plastics Processing Industry Association pointed out that “internal concerns” are actually a reflection of the deep-level structural contradictions in the development of the plastics processing industry. The "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" is a crucial period for China's plastics processing industry to achieve "growth" and "quality improvement." The task of structural adjustment, transfer of methods, and balanced development is very arduous. After the outbreak of the financial crisis in 2008, the Chinese government adopted measures to ensure growth and expand domestic demand, and the plastics processing industry quickly emerged from the trough. However, the deep structural conflicts facing the industry have not been fundamentally resolved. To get rid of the predicament facing the industry at present, one cannot expect to do a good job in one battle, and must unswervingly adhere to the general direction of structural adjustment, transfer of methods, enhancement of technological innovation capabilities, and enhancement of brand efficiency.