Foreign dyes and export status

In the first half of the year, the overall production and operation of dyestuffs in China was stable, but the pressure on SMEs became significantly greater and the export situation was not satisfactory. As the economic expectations of the major target countries are not optimistic, it is expected that China's dye pigment exports will be further weakened in the second half of the year. Coupled with the constraints of international regulations and the tightening of domestic monetary policies, the future trend will be even more severe.

The overall smooth operation According to Tian Liming, secretary general of China National Dyestuff Industry Association, from January to May, the national dye production reached 320,000 tons, an increase of 7.4% year-on-year; sales revenue reached 9.86 billion yuan, an increase of 10.2% year-on-year. The output of organic pigments reached 57,000 tons, a cumulative increase of 10.4% year-on-year. The dyeing industry completed a total industrial output value of 10.08 billion yuan, an increase of 7.2% year-on-year; sales revenue was 9.58 billion yuan, an increase of 10.2% year-on-year; profits and taxes were 1.02 billion yuan, a cumulative increase of 8.8%. On the whole, the dyeing paint industry was generally stable in operation, with all indicators slightly increasing.

Although the industry as a whole is operating smoothly, the internal performance of the industry is uneven. First, key large enterprises are better than SMEs. In the first half of the year, key enterprises basically maintained growth at different levels. However, the development of SMEs was hampered. The state of semi-stop production was more common and the market competition was under greater pressure. Second, the overall situation in the first quarter was better than in the second quarter. In the first quarter, dyeing companies operated relatively smoothly, but after entering May, due to multiple factors such as the fall in domestic demand growth, increased inflationary pressures, reduced investment, and declining domestic demand, the market operation has declined significantly.

In the first half of the year, external demand spurred weakness. Affected by rising prices of factors such as raw materials and labor costs and the adjustment of the exchange rate, the growth rate of dyed pigment exports has decreased significantly, and even negative growth has occurred. According to customs statistics, from January to May, the total amount of dyes exported nationwide was 109,000 tons, a year-on-year drop of 4%, showing a rare negative growth, especially the negative growth in May, which was a drop of 16% year-on-year.

Compared with dyes, the overall organic pigments maintained a slight growth. According to Tian Liming, from January to May, the export volume of organic pigments including organic pigment products such as colorants and masterbatches reached 63,000 tons, an increase of 2.3% year-on-year; foreign exchange earned through exports reached US$500 million, a year-on-year increase of 27.3%. . However, similar to the dyes, there was also a negative growth in the export of organic pigments in February and May, but in other months it was better than dyes.

From the perspective of export categories, disperse dyes, acid dyes, direct dyes, and vat dyes have maintained positive growth, while other categories have seen negative growth. From the perspective of imports and exports, there has been little change. On the export side, China’s export destination for dyed pigments has seen negative growth in exports, such as negative growth in Germany, Belgium, Brazil, and Mexico, but in Japan, the United States, the Netherlands, Indonesia, India, and South Korea. Other countries are maintaining growth. On the import side, import trade continued to decline and showed negative growth. From January to May, the national import volume of dyes decreased by 15%, and the import volume of organic pigments decreased by 9%. The major importing countries and regions have not changed much. Japan and the United States have still increased their exports to China, but China's Taiwan, South Korea, Germany and Indonesia are declining.

Demand growth slows down The slow recovery of the world economy will further limit the demand for dyes and downstream products such as engineering plastics, rubber and printing and dyeing products. The International Monetary Association predicts that the economy of the euro zone will recover slowly in 2011. The average unemployment rate in the 17 countries is around 9.6%, and the US economy is not optimistic about the outside world. In addition, India has become a major competitor in China's dye-staining market segments and competition between India and India in the second half of the year is unavoidable.

The implementation of international regulations has, to some extent, reduced the market investment enthusiasm. According to Wang Jie, the project director of INTERTEK Intertek Group in China, most of the domestic small and medium-sized dyeing pigment companies have not yet registered for the EU REACH regulation. The high registration fee is one of the reasons. The intermediates are registered at least 100,000 yuan, and some are bulk pigments. The product registration fee is even as high as one million yuan, which undoubtedly increases the burden on SMEs.

In addition, the continuous tightening of monetary policy in China will continue to increase financing pressure for SMEs, and the rate of business utilization will continue to decline, and companies that suspend production and even bankruptcy may increase further.