(Combating New Crown Pneumonia) How can the “strong textile region” with a foreign trade dependency of over 80% resolve the crisis under the epidemic?
China News Network Shaoxing, March 27th (Reporter Xiang Jing) has just crossed the barrier of resumption of production and resumption of production, and overseas epidemics have suddenly broke out. Foreign trade dependence has reached over 80%. Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province, which is building the "International Textile Capital" Keqiao District, how to resolve the crisis under the pressure of the epidemic?
Foreign trade exports are one of China's "troikas" driving economic growth. Keqiao has the largest cloth distribution center in Asia, with textile exports accounting for 91%. In 2019, Keqiao's foreign trade exports increased by 15.6%, 10.6 percentage points higher than China's. However, the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic this year has made this foreign trade "strong textile region" feel great pressure.
Chinese textile city operators sort fabrics. Photo by Zhao Wei
"After the domestic epidemic, the pressure on foreign trade textile companies is mainly due to the delay in resumption of production and the inability to make up for the supply side; after the global outbreak of the epidemic, enterprises encountered problems such as cancellations of exhibitions, postponement or cancellation of orders, etc. Enterprises are still confused. "Ke Ke, director of the Commerce Bureau of Keqiao District, introduced in an interview that in the first two months of this year, Keqiao's foreign trade exports fell by 19.41% year-on-year.
Pressure followed, and companies were waiting, restarting, and pausing. Shaoxing Keqiao Dongying Import & Export Co., Ltd. is mainly engaged in foreign trade and mainly exports clothing and fabrics to Europe and South America and other countries and regions.
Flag produced by Shaoxing Banner King Craft & Garment Co., Ltd. Photo courtesy of Enterprise
"After the resumption of work on February 17, we stepped up the production of delayed orders. Now the epidemic situation abroad is severe, especially in Europe. All orders have been told to be suspended and cancelled." The general manager of the company Jin Yan admitted that the epidemic situation will not go, and foreign orders It is difficult to eliminate the crisis. Without actual orders, the pressure on employee wages, bank loans, and house rents is indeed great.
Jin Yan said, "On the one hand, we look forward to the end of the epidemic, on the other hand, we are planning to arrange a rest period for workers on the workshop, and use this extraordinary period to make self-adjustment."
Since the immediate loss is unavoidable, many companies are looking to the future and arranging competition in the "post-epidemic era" through self-charging.
"Now it is more prudent to take orders. Large orders generally reduce the risk by paying a 30% deposit in advance." Shaoxing Qiwang Craft Clothing Co., Ltd., located in Huashe Street, Keqiao District, is committed to producing national flags for 204 countries and regions. The company General Manager Huang Guoxing bluntly said that there were still orders in March, but orders in the next April and May were almost blank.
Huang Guoxing said that although foreign trade orders have dropped sharply, because of the long storage time of textiles such as national flags and red scarves, they will still step up production and seize the domestic and overseas markets in a timely manner after the epidemic. At the same time, they would like to take this opportunity to develop domestic sales and gain some new domestic customers .
Enterprises are helping themselves, and the textile industry e-commerce platform created by the Keqiao government is also actively helping. Han Chong, CEO of Global Textile Network and Online Textile City, said that the platform is currently helping foreign trade companies solve their problems through "internal and external linkage". "Foreign, we are preparing to open overseas exhibition halls to solve the problem that enterprises cannot participate in overseas exhibitions. "Cloud exhibitions" and other forms to strengthen promotion; internally, through online and offline exhibitions, and docking with related industrial clusters, to better help companies develop domestic sales paths. "
In response to the plight of foreign trade companies, the local government has also issued a series of measures to stabilize foreign trade, including promoting the service of cadres in enterprises and raising the export credit insurance subsidy standards.
"We also organize foreign-related business legal training, cross-border e-commerce counselling, and government-bank-enterprise docking activities to guide companies in various ways to resolve foreign trade risks." Tan Ke said that at the moment of the epidemic, Keqiao will encourage, support, and guide. Overcoming difficulties with foreign trade companies. (Finish)