2015 Low Voltage Electrical Appliances Export Competitiveness Increased

In the complex and ever-changing world economic environment, China's low-voltage electrical appliance import and export trade has encountered unprecedented opportunities and challenges. It is expected that imports will remain basically the same as last year, and the total amount of exports will increase by 10% to 15%.

From 2008 to 2014, China's imports and exports of low-voltage electrical products were stable, and the trade deficit has been declining year by year since 2010. In 2014, the trade deficit dropped to 1.066 billion U.S. dollars. It can be seen that the international competitiveness of low-voltage electrical products in China is gradually increasing.

In 2014, the import and export of low-voltage electrical appliances are both growing

In 2014, the cumulative import of low-voltage electrical products in China was 15.33 billion U.S. dollars, a slight increase of 6.95% year-on-year. In terms of exports, in 2013, due to the export downturn in 2013, the export growth rate increased dramatically to 15.4%; the export value was 14.27 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 15.4% year-on-year. The increase has increased significantly compared to 2013.

At present, domestic low-end low-voltage electrical appliances basically account for most of the domestic market, but domestic high-end low-voltage electrical products in addition to individual products can be equally with foreign similar products, the market share of most products is still low.

China's imports of low-voltage electrical appliances mainly come from the Asian market, accounting for 75.38%, while the European market accounts for 15.29%. In terms of exports, exports from Asia, Europe, and North America account for 64%, 14.45%, and 13.25% respectively, and exports are respectively year-on-year. It increased by 15.21%, 16.85% and 12%. It is worth mentioning that in 2014, China's exports of low-voltage electrical appliances to Africa showed a relatively significant increase, an increase of 39.16% year-on-year, indicating that China's low-voltage electrical companies have achieved some success in opening up the emerging international market.

China's import of ultra-low voltage electrical appliances has become an export re-import, exceeding 30% of Japan and South Korea from the Asian market. In 2014, the amount of low-voltage electrical products imported from South Korea and Japan decreased by 4.52% and 4.3%, respectively. China's ultra-low-grade low-voltage electrical products were imported from Japan and South Korea.

The main export markets of low-voltage electrical appliances in China are Hong Kong, the United States, and Japan. The total export volume accounts for nearly half of the world's total. According to customs statistics in 2014, the top three export markets for low-voltage electrical appliances in China are Hong Kong, the United States, and Japan. In 2014, China’s exports of low-voltage electrical products to Laos surged, and exports increased significantly year-on-year. Laos has become the sixth-largest export market for low-voltage electrical appliances in China. .

The import and export trade mode of low-voltage electrical products is dominated by processing trade. The lack of value-added processing trade is the main reason for the export deficit.

On the import side, in 2014, China’s low-voltage appliance imports accounted for 33.33% of the total trade, up 13.99% year-on-year; the processing trade accounted for 48.12%, down 2.25% year-on-year, which was basically the same as last year.

In the import of low-voltage electrical products in China, the import processing trade is the main method of trade. In 2014, the amount of imports in this way reached 6.778 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for nearly half of all imports, while the export value of processing trade during the same period was 5.929 billion U.S. dollars. This shows that the import of low-voltage electrical primary products by means of feed processing trade, after further processing and re-export by China's processing and trading enterprises, has not added value, but also reduced by about 800 million US dollars, which is also the main reason for China's low-voltage electrical products to produce a trade deficit. one.

On the export side, in 2014, the general trade of low-voltage electrical appliances accounted for 46.21%, up 23.36% year-on-year; the processing trade export accounted for 41.56%, a year-on-year decrease of 0.13%, of which the processing trade for imported materials accounted for 39.33%. The processing trade mode of export processed products exported by the operating enterprises is still the biggest feature of China's low-voltage electrical industry. However, the rapid growth of general trade shows that the level of manufacturing of low-voltage electrical appliances in China and the increase in international competitiveness are accelerating.

Guangdong Province is the largest province in China for import and export of low-voltage electrical appliances, with imports accounting for 42.56% of the country's total and exports accounting for 36.12%. Jiangsu and Shanghai also accounted for more than 10% of total imports and exports, while Zhejiang Province mainly exports.

Insufficient development of new products hinders industry development

Low-voltage electrical products span multiple disciplines and are comprehensive and technology-intensive. Related technologies, the development of new materials, and new processes will all lead to the birth of a new generation of low-voltage electrical appliances, but it also requires a lot of investment. According to statistics, foreign advanced enterprises' investment in research, research and development of new products for low-voltage electrical appliances can reach about 7% of total sales. The average input of the low-voltage electrical industry in China accounts for 1% to 2% of total sales, and advanced companies account for about 3%.

Under the background of the continuous development of new technologies and new products for low-voltage electrical appliances and the increasing attention paid to the development of smart grid and safe use of electricity, if the low-voltage electrical industry in China does not increase investment in research and new product R&D, and does not increase research on basic generic technologies, the Improving the ability of independent innovation of enterprises will inevitably hinder the sustainable development of China's low-voltage electrical industry and lose its market competitiveness.

In China's low-voltage electrical appliances, low-end products are still produced in large quantities. This batch of products is bulky and consumes a large amount of precious metal silver and copper, ferrous metals, plastics and other materials. Many materials are subject to international market prices. Therefore, the situation in which the prices of main raw materials of low-voltage electrical appliances remain high and even continue to rise will hardly change.

In addition, with the shortage of funds, rising financial costs and the rapid increase in staff salaries, the increase in personnel costs cannot be reversed. It will surely cause the profit of low-voltage electrical appliances to keep falling. Many companies are already in a state of low profit and loss. At the same time, this has also brought difficulties to enterprises in increasing investment in scientific research, new product research and development, and technological transformation.

The impact of well-known foreign brands and the addition of domestic monopoly industries have added to the pressure of advanced domestic low-voltage appliance companies. In the construction of smart grid, State Grid Corporation and many design departments prefer the famous brands of foreign capital, and the domestic monopoly industries are directly involved in the manufacturing of low-voltage electrical appliances, making existing domestic companies, including advanced enterprises, at a disadvantage in market competition.

Many low-voltage electrical appliance industry manufacturers, counterfeiting and price competition still exist, so that the general low-voltage electrical products in the low-profit status, the original product of the low-voltage electrical industry has played a major role in the development of products such as DW45 universal circuit breaker profit also decreased significantly.

With the continuous development of the market economy, the pattern led by the Institute to jointly design new products for the entire industry has been completely broken. Followed by the independent research and development of new products. As a result, trial production costs for the internal and external accessories and main component manufacturers of low-voltage electrical appliances are greatly increased, and the production volume of each accessory or component is reduced. It is difficult to form a production scale and it is difficult to generate profits. The lack of enthusiasm for the production of accessory manufacturers also brings difficulties for the entire plant to develop new products.

This year China's low-voltage electrical imports will be flat with last year

At present, the low-voltage electrical appliance market gradually expands with the construction of power facilities. In recent years, the demand for low-voltage electrical appliances at home and abroad is generally in an expanding state, and the market prospect is very considerable. However, domestic low-voltage electrical companies generally lack sufficient independent innovation capabilities and lack high-end market competitiveness. As price wars and channel wars intensify, the environment of the domestic low-voltage electrical industry is increasingly degrading.

In the increasingly fiercely competitive low-voltage electrical appliance industry, the call to “design to enhance brand value and design to get rid of “low-end” problems” has become increasingly strong. Some forward-thinking companies are brave enough to take a solid step and improve their brand and product competitiveness through cooperation with well-known design companies.

To sum up, in the complex and ever-changing world economic environment, China's low-voltage electrical import and export trade has encountered unprecedented opportunities and challenges. It is expected that imports will remain basically the same as last year, and the total amount of exports will increase by 10% to 15%.