The Good Recipe And Effect Of Quanzhou Footwear Manufacturing Industry In Coping With European Debt Crisis

"In recent months, we have been rushing for orders. At present, we have completed some shipments to customers in Europe and the United States." The manager of the production department of a foreign trade shoe company in Luojiang District, Quanzhou told the reporter: "At the end of last year, the company had invested a lot of money to purchase a batch of brand sewing equipment, expanded the production scale, and was ready to deal with this year's production peak by improving production efficiency."

As one of the largest export bases of China's footwear and clothing industry, Quanzhou's footwear and clothing exports to Europe did not decline but rose under the impact of the European debt crisis, and the number also increased significantly while the unit price rose. After in-depth investigation and interview, the reporter found that this "curative effect" was mainly due to the good grasp of Quanzhou footwear and clothing enterprises crisis The business opportunity of "turning crisis into opportunity".

In Quanzhou, some raw materials used by textile, footwear and clothing enterprises need to be imported. Take the chemical fiber with great demand as an example. Due to the large import volume of raw materials, the cost of raw material procurement of chemical fiber enterprises will decrease with the appreciation of RMB. For example, polyester raw materials rely heavily on imports, most of which are settled in US dollars. Due to the appreciation of the RMB, the invisible cost of the polyester factory has dropped by 20 US dollars/ton, and this saved US dollars has become a profit. "Now the RMB is worth money, and the same money can buy more goods," said a trader specializing in polyester raw materials.

When choosing to import materials from abroad, Quanzhou enterprises attach more importance to the increase of added value of products than to the decrease of cost caused by exchange rate changes. The European debt crisis has forced some shoe material enterprises in Europe to sell their products at a low price, coupled with the appreciation of the RMB. In terms of the materials used for a pair of shoes, the price gap between international environment-friendly shoe materials and domestic ordinary shoe materials is less than 30 cents. "The use of environmentally friendly materials is more likely to win the favor of European and American businessmen, so the finished shoes made of imported shoe materials can sell nearly 10 yuan more than ordinary shoes in price," an industry insider told reporters. It is understood that at present, Anta, Tebu, 361 ° and other first-line brands in Quanzhou shoe industry are paying more and more attention to the added value brought by the use of imported functional fabrics. The reduction of raw material costs due to the appreciation of RMB and the increase of product added value are the main driving forces for these enterprises to achieve net profit growth.

In addition to starting from raw materials, Quanzhou enterprises have also taken many initiatives to reduce labor costs. Considering their own strength and the advantages of matching with the domestic industrial chain, some enterprises choose to transfer their production bases to the inland. "Inland cities are more convenient in terms of recruitment, and the comprehensive cost is lower than that of coastal cities. In the future, some orders with lower profits will be processed and produced in inland factories to ensure the company's benefits," said a person in charge of the enterprise.

The reporter learned that many Quanzhou enterprises are actively connecting with processing enterprises in Henan, Anhui, Jiangxi and other central and western regions to transfer some orders to local production. "Many factory owners used to be employees of our factory. After they learned the technology, we not only support them to go home and run their own factories, but also give them some financial help. Therefore, cooperation is relatively smooth now." said Mr. Ban Cai, an old garment factory in Shishi.

In addition to the domestic market, many Quanzhou Shoes and clothing enterprises are looking abroad for low-cost solutions. When the global financial crisis came in 2008, some enterprises began to study the Southeast Asia and South Asia markets by visiting the Vietnam market and consulting enterprises that set up factories outside. They found that the cost of importing some semi-finished products from Southeast and South Asian countries for reprocessing and selling for export is much lower than that of doing it in China.

"We found that many countries in Southeast Asia Textile clothing The industrial chain has been gradually improved in the past two years, and semi-finished products and low-end products can be basically produced locally from the source to the finished products. Among them, the textile industry in Vietnam and Bangladesh has developed most rapidly. Moreover, they have great cost advantages in raw materials and labor, which makes their semi-finished product prices much lower than ours. Therefore, we began to try to import semi-finished products from Vietnam, Bangladesh and other places, and then carry out post processing after buying them, so that the cost of the whole process is lower than that of the self production. " Cai said.

In the interview, the reporter found that many foresighted local shoe and clothing enterprises have prepared for the European debt crisis. In Quanzhou, some large shoe and clothing enterprises take advantage of the opportunity of RMB appreciation to transform and upgrade their equipment and reduce the cost of upgrading.

"At this time, the cost of importing these advanced equipment is relatively low, the price is relatively cheap, and the cost performance ratio is greatly improved. At present, the most fundamental way to deal with the crisis is technological progress, independent innovation, and improve the quality and core competitiveness of enterprises. According to accounting, enterprises can save about 10% of the cost of introducing new equipment at this time than before. More importantly, after this batch of equipment is put into use, the efficiency is greatly improved, and the benefits are very considerable. " The head of Fujian Fengtai Shoes Co., Ltd. said.

The reporter learned that enterprises in Shishi, Jinjiang and other Quanzhou textile and clothing industry clusters have also purchased equipment at home and abroad and carried out technological transformation. By changing the production process and promoting rapid assembly process, they not only improved production efficiency, but also reduced operating costs, which has more advantages in market expansion.

In the first half of this year, under the influence of shrinking demand in the European and American markets, rising labor costs, rising raw material costs and other factors, the orders of footwear and clothing enterprises in Quanzhou did not decline significantly. This also shows that opportunities are also bred in crises. Although the European debt crisis continues to spread, most footwear and clothing enterprises in Quanzhou are fully prepared to deal with it. They are busy upgrading all kinds of hardware and software equipment while increasing income and reducing expenditure. They believe that when the crisis comes, they should be proactive, rather than waiting for death. Just like the Minnan people can sing the song "Love to fight will win", "Three minutes is doomed, seven minutes is determined by fighting".