Ten Years After WTO Entry: Rewriting The History Of Chinese Chemical Fiber Trade

Ten years ago, China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO), and it is widely acknowledged that China will become the biggest beneficiary of the accession to the WTO. At the same time, it is also concerned that as the world's largest producer of fiber and textiles, China's entry into WTO means global textile.

Looking back on the ten years, vividly speaking, China's accession to the WTO has indeed made China a "beneficiary" from "oppressed", but China is by no means the only winner. The whole world has benefited from China's accession to the WTO, because a large number of "made in China" have greatly enriched the lives of the people of the world.

After joining the WTO for ten years, China's chemical fiber industry, one of the important raw material industries in the textile industry, has gained strong results in various tests.

Deep integration into global industrial restructuring

The ten year of China's accession to the WTO is also the ten year that the world's chemical fiber industry has been further adjusted.

With the acceleration of global economic integration, the layout and readjustment and reorganization of chemical fiber industry in the global scope continue to deepen, the overall growth momentum slows down, and the production capacity of chemical fiber is gradually pferred to the Asian region dominated by China and India. The developed countries such as Europe, the United States and Japan are gradually dropping out or reducing the production of conventional chemical fiber varieties, strengthening the research and production and application of hi-tech fibers. At the same time, through the merger and reorganization, the strategic structural adjustment has been carried out to further deepen the industrial division of labor and form a specialized enterprise group with core technology, and become the leader and monopolist in the world's high new technology fiber and biomass engineering technology.

At the same time, South Korea and Taiwan and other emerging industrial countries and regions have constantly improved their market competitiveness by adjusting the development strategy of conventional chemical fiber products, including increasing research and development efforts, upgrading obsolete production equipment, developing differential fibers, emphasizing brand building, establishing vertical cooperation between enterprises, and strengthening the overall competitive advantage of the industrial chain.

During this period, the developing countries represented by China made full use of the strong demand of the domestic market and the advantage of late industry, which made the conventional production capacity develop rapidly and the competitiveness of the industry improved significantly.

India, Pakistan, Turkey and other countries are relying on low labor costs and Europe and the United States to play a loose trade environment, play the advantage of late development in the chemical fiber industry in the low-end market, and become China's strong competitors in the international market.

After entering the WTO for ten years, especially in the latter five years, China has entered the post WTO pition period. The gradual cancellation of various pitional protection measures and the rise of trade protectionism have gradually revealed the deep-seated influence on the development of China's chemical fiber industry.

On the one hand, after the accession to the WTO, the import tariff rate has been decreasing year after year, and the overseas chemical fiber products have entered the market more and have a certain impact on the domestic market. On the other hand, the rise of international trade protectionism has caused more and more trade frictions in the export of our textile products. Besides the trade protection measures such as anti-dumping, countervailing measures and safeguard measures, the trade barriers such as green barriers, technical barriers and social responsibility standards have also increased rapidly, and the international trade environment is becoming more and more complex, which makes China's chemical fiber industry face severe challenges in the globalization development.

Lower import tariffs and speed up technology import

"It is certain that the integration of globalization accelerates the internationalization of China's chemical fiber industry.

In the first five years (the "fifteen" period), the absolute cost advantage of China's textile and chemical fiber industry was greatly released in 2001. In the last five years (11th Five-Year), the opportunity cost advantage of creativity gradually increased, and the growth space of the international market continued to expand. "WTO"

Du Yuzhou, honorary president of China Textile Industry Federation, said at the Fifth China Textile Economic Forum held recently.

In the 2001~2005 years, the global export volume increased by 34.88%, the total export volume of China increased by 121.5%, the total growth share increased from 14.71% to 24.07%, the contribution rate of export volume growth to export growth was 87.5%, and the absolute advantage was released. In the 2006~2010 year, the total export volume of China increased by 80.4%, while the world growth rate increased by 24.42% at the same time. The contribution rate of China's export value to export growth was 56.84% and the comparative advantage increased significantly. In 2000, the proportion of general trade exports in the total export volume was 54.55%, and in 2010 it increased to 54.55%.

After accession to WTO, import tariffs decreased, and the total export volume of textile industry increased 1.52 times in 2010 than in 2000.

Among them, in 2000, China's fiber imports amounted to US $3 billion 456 million, reaching 7 billion 872 million US dollars in 2005, 2010 to 11 billion 130 million US dollars, and imports of chemical raw materials amounted to US $2 billion 635 million in 2000, 11 billion 855 million US dollars in 2005 and 18 billion 446 million US dollars in 2010.

In response, Du Yuzhou pointed out: "in the past ten years since China's entry into the WTO, we have fulfilled our commitments, reduced import tariffs, and accelerated the introduction of technology and products, which has brought about tremendous changes in China's import trade.

This is not only a need for domestic economic development, but more importantly, it strongly promotes the production and consumption of world fiber.

Before China's accession to the WTO, the situation of polyester production capacity surplus in China was different from that in other parts of Asia. The demand for polyester products in China increased faster than that in polyester production. The gap between supply and demand in 1999 and 2000 was more than 1 million 200 thousand tons.

For many years, due to insufficient domestic supply and high price, polyester chips were taken as an example. In June 2000, the domestic tax free price was 34% higher than the international level. China's chemical fiber raw materials need to be imported from the international market.

In 2000, the import of main synthetic fiber raw materials was 4 million 540 thousand tons, an increase of 49% over the previous year, and the dependence on the international market increased from 44% in 1999 to 55%.

According to the relevant provisions of WTO, the import tariff rate of 2/3 chemical intermediates and finished products should be reduced to the level of coordination tariff from the beginning of the entry of WTO to 2005, that is, the import tariff of intermediate products is 5.5%, and the finished products are 6.5%, of which part of the finished products are extended to 2008.

Before entering WTO, the general import tariff rate and preferential import tariff rate of our synthetic fiber materials were as high as 35.5% and 13.37% respectively. After joining the WTO, the import prices of chemical fiber raw materials were greatly reduced, the raw material cost of chemical fiber in China was reduced, and the market competitiveness was improved.

Great changes in "one go in and one go out"

2007 is a memorable year for China's chemical fiber industry.

This year, China's chemical fiber exports exceeded imports for the first time, and net exports of 433 thousand and 100 tons were achieved throughout the year.

Except for acrylic fiber and nylon filament, all the other varieties achieved net export.

This is also the remarkable achievement of China's integration into globalization.

While trade liberalization has increased imports, it has also created favorable conditions for Chinese products to enter the international market more.

The great changes in "one go in and one go" truly reflect the role of China's entry into WTO in promoting the development of China's chemical fiber industry and the world's chemical fiber industry.

In 2007, China's chemical fiber industry showed a rapid growth trend. The operation of the market was basically stable, the production continued to develop rapidly, the economic efficiency increased significantly, and the quality of operation was good.

According to the statistics of China Chemical Fiber Industry Association, in 2007, China's chemical fiber industry completed 23 million 890 thousand tons of chemical fiber production, an increase of 18.04% over the same period last year.

Among them, the fastest growth is viscose fiber, an increase of 27.8% over the same period, the output reached 1 million 542 thousand and 900 tons; polyester increased by 18.84% over the same period, the output reached 19 million 176 thousand and 700 tons; nylon increased 14.93%, output was 951 thousand and 200 tons; acrylic fiber production increased less, the increase was only 0.67%.

With the rapid growth of production, the sales of chemical fiber products are good, the production and marketing rate of the main products are above 95%, and the average production and marketing rate of the whole industry is 98.24%.

All these have created the necessary conditions for the historical rewriting of China's chemical fiber from "net import" to "net export".

Before that, although the production of chemical fiber in China is huge, there is still a big gap in terms of technical equipment, product quality and cost fiber differentiation compared with advanced countries or regions.

Chemical fiber is not a labor-intensive industry. At that time, China's products had no competitive advantage in the international market, and the export volume of chemical fiber products was very small. In 1999 and 2000 only 88 thousand tons and 100 thousand tons respectively.

Therefore, the net export of chemical fiber in China is largely due to the introduction of advanced technology, equipment and the reduction of raw material costs after China's accession to the WTO.

Since 1998, the capacity and output of China's chemical fiber has been ranked first in the world.

In 2000, China's chemical fiber production was 6 million 940 thousand tons, and the proportion of chemical fiber in the total textile fiber processing exceeded 60%. Chemical fiber has replaced cotton as the largest textile raw material.

Although China's chemical fiber industry has maintained a two digit growth rate before joining the WTO, it still can not meet the needs of the domestic textile market.

After WTO, the international trade practice has been used to regulate the international and domestic trade of China's chemical fiber products. It has effectively promoted the healthy development of China's chemical fiber industry, reduced the import tariff of chemical fiber products and their raw materials and the gradual abolition of non-tariff barriers, effectively reduced the factors of smuggling, reduced the cost of goods import and increased the competitiveness of products, reduced the import and export tariffs of chemical fiber equipment, instruments and meters, reduced the investment and operation cost of chemical equipment, shortened the technological renewal and product development cycle, opened up the service trade after entering the WTO, increased the financing channels of enterprises, and reduced the operation cost. Join in

Entering WTO is a double-edged sword.

Entering WTO is a double-edged sword. It brings benefits to our industry, but also brings many adverse effects. The import tariff of chemical fiber has been suspended and so on.

Over the past ten years, the environment of international trade has been complicated and changeable. China's chemical and chemical fiber industry has become the industry that has suffered the most anti-dumping from abroad. Frequent anti-dumping cases occur, especially the anti-dumping case of Sino US polyester staple which has lasted for many years.

In April 2010, after the WTO entry, the first case of Sino US textile anti-dumping was announced. The final conclusion of the Sino US polyester staple anti-dumping case was announced. Since 2004, Sino US trade has been granted zero tax for the first time in the anti-dumping lawsuit.

In this anti-dumping case, Ningbo Jiangnan Chemical Fiber Co., Ltd. received zero tax rate. Dafa Chemical Fiber Co., Ltd. received a 4.86% tax rate. Other Chinese responding enterprises received an average tax rate of 4.44%, and the corporate tax rate of non responding enterprises was as high as 44.3%.

After years of experience, Chinese chemical fiber enterprises have won the final victory in this big case, and Chinese enterprises have gradually changed from passive into the early stage of WTO entry to defend their due interests.

It can be said that although China's chemical fiber enterprises are facing increasingly fierce international anti-dumping impact in the ten years after joining the WTO, they have accumulated the most abundant experience in coping with international trade barriers.

In the ten years after China's accession to the WTO, relevant departments in China have further intensified the efforts to crack down on smuggling and standardize processing trade in order to protect domestic industries, take timely measures to prevent unfair trade practices such as dumping and subsidies, actively deal with trade frictions, safeguard the fundamental interests of Industrial Development, and create a fair environment for industrial development.

On the establishment of the industry early-warning mechanism, the State supports both policies and funds, so as to maintain the early establishment and smooth operation of the industry early-warning mechanism.

At the same time, China is the largest exporter of textiles and clothing in the world, and China's exports of textiles and clothing are also famous for its beauty, low price and high quality. At present, the proportion of chemical fiber accounts for more than 60% of the total textile fiber consumption.

After China's accession to the WTO, the probability of chemical fiber products being subjected to anti-dumping is greatly increased. China's chemical fiber and products manufacturing enterprises have a large number and wide distribution. Some enterprises are still in a poor sense of responding to anti-dumping. Therefore, the relevant departments of the state have supported anti-dumping duties on chemical fiber export products and anti-dumping complaints of imported products through various forms, which has played an important role in safeguarding the rights and interests of domestic enterprises, and has created an advantageous environment for accelerating the sustainable development of China's chemical fiber industry and better participating in the division and cooperation of the international industrial chain.