The novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic has led to a sharp contraction in global economic activities, and the uncertainty brought by the import and export market has also increased, which has brought great pressure to low-voltage electrical appliance foreign trade enterprises.

ZT372a-E According to customs statistics, in the first quarter of 2020, China’s low-voltage electrical products exports of 3.125 billion US dollars, down 12.4%; Imports of 3.043 billion US dollars, down 7.2% year-on-year, trade surplus of 82 million US dollars, in the past ten years, China’s low-voltage electrical products imports and exports remained stable, 2020 or become a turning point in the development of low-voltage electrical foreign trade.

In terms of exports, in the first quarter, Asia (including ASEAN and the Middle East) accounted for 60.2% as the largest target market for China’s low-voltage electrical products exports, with exports reaching 1.882 billion US dollars; Followed by Europe, exports reached 514 million US dollars, accounting for 16.4%; Third is North America, exports amounted to 426 million US dollars, accounting for 13.6%. In terms of growth, except for ASEAN, all export markets declined, and the decline in Europe, Africa and North America was more than 17%. However, in the first quarter, China’s low-voltage electrical exports to ASEAN $534 million, an increase of 17.6%; Imports from ASEAN reached US $359 million, up 11.7% year on year; The trade surplus with ASEAN was US $175 million, an increase of US $43 million.

“With the positive results of the trade diversification strategy, China’s imports and exports to countries and regions along the ‘Belt and Road’ showed a countertrend growth, including low-voltage electrical appliances exported to Vietnam in the first quarter of US $243 million, a significant increase of 71.9%.” Zhang Sen, secretary-general of the low-voltage electrical branch of the China Chamber of Commerce, said that in the first quarter, China’s low-voltage electrical products exports to the United States, Japan and Germany were $400 million, $184 million and $141 million, respectively, down 21.2%, 18.9% and 22% year-on-year.

In terms of imports, in the first quarter, China’s low-voltage electrical products imports decreased by 7.2%, and Europe accounted for 19.6% of China’s import market share.

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It is understood that the connector (voltage ≤36V) is still the most important product of China’s low-voltage electrical exports in the first quarter, with exports of $1.008 billion, accounting for 32.2% of the total exports. In addition, the import price of most products is higher than the export price, of which the import unit price of optical fiber connectors is 323.16 US dollars, which is nearly 17 times the price of such products exported in China, and the international competitiveness of China’s high-end low-voltage electrical products still needs to be improved.

ZT372a-E Weak external demand is the main factor affecting China’s low-voltage electrical exports. Overseas the epidemic is still continuing, once the customer delays the shipment or cancels the order, the subsequent production has the possibility of suspension. “There are cases of some customers confirming orders but not paying for them, mainly because the upstream supply chain delivery delays lead to default shipments.” Zhang Sen said that affected by the epidemic situation abroad, the export freight cost has risen, the docking overseas projects have been basically suspended, and the customer order volume has declined, and there will be insufficient orders in the next 2-4 months, leading to the normal operation of the factory with more people and less orders. “Because customers’ orders are mostly customized products, if the scheduled orders cannot be resold due to the epidemic, it will cause overstocked inventory costs and affect production capital turnover.”

The marketing work is more difficult, and the exhibition originally scheduled to participate is postponed or cancelled indefinitely. Affected by the epidemic, enquiries have dropped considerably. In this regard, enterprises actively carry out online promotion with third-party information companies to make up for the adverse effects, but the effect is limited.

Zhang Sen said that in recent years, some countries have encouraged localized production, and some overseas customers also require enterprises to cooperate abroad to set up factories, such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria and other places as the key development base for enterprises to set up overseas factories. However, due to the lack of in-depth understanding of overseas financial, cultural, policy, infrastructure, project investment and construction information, and there is no precedent for successful enterprises to refer to, the plan is slowly promoted.