Recently, according to statistics from the General Administration of Customs, in the first half of 2021, China's ceramic tile export volume was 295 million square meters, and the export value was US$1.948 billion, an increase of 19.26% compared with US$1.633 billion in the same period in 2020. .
Judging from current statistics, Southeast Asia and other countries are still the largest target markets for China's ceramic tile exports. However, the current epidemic situation in this market is serious. There were more than 500,000 new cases in the previous week, and the number of deaths increased by nearly 40%, making it one of the "hardest-hit areas" of the global new crown epidemic. If the epidemic in Southeast Asia cannot be effectively controlled quickly, it will directly affect the overall performance of China's ceramic tile exports in the second half of the year.
Global port congestion as of August 13th! Red dots represent clusters of ships, and orange represents ports with congestion or operational disruptions.
At the same time, according to media reports in mid-August, the COVID-19 epidemic has paralyzed the shipping supply chain. Incidents of "port shortages and port congestion" continue to occur around the world, and the port congestion problem continues to worsen. Currently, about 400 container ships around the world are stuck in queues at ports, and the container shipping market is facing the biggest crisis in the 65 years since the advent of container ships.
“In the first half of the year, our export volume and export value have increased compared with the first half of last year, but it is difficult to say in the second half of the year!” said the person in charge of a ceramic import and export trading company in Foshan. Now that the epidemic abroad is serious, many Shipments have been stopped everywhere, especially in Southeast Asia.
Many ceramic foreign traders said that due to anti-dumping investigations, skyrocketing sea freight and other factors, Chinese ceramic tiles are currently mainly flowing to Southeast Asia. This is consistent with the data collected by the General Administration of Customs.
The top ten countries or regions for China's ceramic tile exports are: Vietnam, Philippines, Hong Kong, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Australia, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Japan.
Among them, markets such as Vietnam, the Philippines, Hong Kong, China, and Indonesia experienced larger growth rates, all exceeding 50%. Exports to Vietnam, the Philippines, and Hong Kong, China totaled US$648 million, accounting for 33.19% of the total.
Judging from current statistics, Southeast Asia and other countries are still the largest target markets for China's ceramic tile exports. However, many industry veterans believe that with the current severe epidemic in the Southeast Asian market, China's ceramic tile exports will face more severe challenges in the second half of the year.
With the rapid spread of the Delta variant virus and the slow progress of vaccination, Southeast Asia has now become one of the "hardest hit areas" of the global new crown virus. So far, the cumulative number of confirmed cases in Southeast Asia has surpassed previous epidemicsSeriously Latin America and India.
According to the latest data released by the Vietnamese health department, Vietnam had 9,690 new cases of COVID-19 infection on August 8, setting a record for the highest number of new cases in a single day since the outbreak. At this point, factories in Vietnam have been closed on a large scale. Moreover, after nearly 10,000 new confirmed cases were reported in a single day, 19 cities in Vietnam continued to be sealed off.
Like Vietnam, the epidemic in Malaysia has further worsened this summer. There are currently 20,000 new confirmed cases every day, and it is still on the rise. Malaysia has also implemented very strict lockdown measures since July.
The situation in Thailand is not objective either. On July 29, the Thailand Epidemic Control Center announced that there were 17,669 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 165 new deaths, both setting single-day highs.
Some media reported that the third wave of the epidemic broke out in Thailand in April this year. Due to the rapid spread of the Delta virus, confirmed cases in Thailand began to rise linearly since June. Recently, the average number of new confirmed cases every day has been more than 10,000. , the daily number of new deaths often exceeds 100.
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It can be seen that in the second half of 2021, China's ceramic tile exports to Southeast Asia will face greater challenges. "Perhaps only some engineering orders will be shipped." The person in charge of the above-mentioned Foshan ceramic import trading company said.
“There are fewer new customers, and it is difficult for old customers to deliver goods!” Another ceramic foreign trader said helplessly that not only are there shortages of containers, but also the shipping costs have skyrocketed. "My number from New Zealand has doubled!"
Since the outbreak of the epidemic, shipping freight rates have continued to rise sharply, and the "hard-to-find" situation on ocean routes continues to this day. The foreign trade circle uses "grabbing space", "grabbing cabinets" and fighting "scalpers" as key words. Shipping now is like "learning from the West".
The biggest cause of global freight congestion is the different border control measures in various countries due to the epidemic, and the forced shutdown of many factories, endangering the smoothness of the entire supply chain, causing freight rates in China, the United States, and Europe to soar.
According to "Ceramic Information", global container shipping prices have been rising since this year, with the largest increase being on the China-US route. Relevant reports say that currently, the container freight rate from China to the United States has exceeded US$20,000 per 40-foot container, a surge of more than 500%, a recordAll-time high!
Philip Damas, general manager of Drewry, a shipping consultancy, pointed out that global container shipping has become a highly chaotic and undersupplied seller's market; in this market, many shipping companies can charge four to ten times the normal price. .
Many ceramic foreign traders revealed that taking a 20-foot container as an example, it can hold 27 tons of ceramic tiles. If it is fully polished and glazed in the size of 800×800mm, it can hold approximately 1,075 square meters. Judging from the current sea freight, the sea freight per square meter has far exceeded the unit price of the ceramic tiles themselves.
There is no doubt that the skyrocketing sea freight has become a major "stumbling block" to China's ceramic tile exports.
The recurrence of epidemics has made ports inefficient, causing severe congestion and delayed shipping schedules. The China Ports and Ports Association said that after the epidemic rebounded in some countries, the turnaround time of some major foreign ports slowed down to about 7-8 days. Moreover, the overseas market can change at any time, and it is possible that the shipped goods are still floating on the sea, the local port has been closed, or no one will pick up the goods after arriving at the port.
In the first half of 2021, China's ceramic tile exports gradually picked up, which can be seen from the statistics of the General Administration of Customs. Not only that, many ceramic foreign traders feel that "in the first half of the year, there were more shipments and customer inquiries!" However, the export market in July and August poured cold water on Chinese ceramic foreign traders, not only the main export destination market ——The epidemic situation in Southeast Asia is severe, and container and sea freight rates are still rising sharply. "New customers will further decrease, and it will be difficult for old customers to ship goods!"
(Article reproduced from Ceramic Information)
