China is the world's largest producer and exporter of textiles and garments. Its output has exceeded half of the world's total output, and its annual export volume has exceeded 37% of the total global textile and apparel trade volume. From January to May of this year, China's textile and apparel products had a value of 99.88 billion US dollars, which, while achieving a year-on-year growth of 2.12%, was still lower than the overall growth rate of 14.8% of the country's total export value over the same period. The survey shows that behind the lack of growth in China's export of textile and apparel products, it is faced with increasingly stringent foreign technical trade measures, resulting in a continuous increase in export barriers, increasing risks and increasing costs, etc., and it is necessary to respond actively.
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New changes in foreign textile and apparel technology standards and regulations since this year
EU: From March 1, 2017, according to EU BPR regulations, unauthorised biocides and their processed products will be ordered to withdraw from the EU market, and over 10 billion categories of products such as textile and apparel products in China will be affected. In June 2017, the European Union issued a new regulation (EU) 2017/1000 to amend Annex 17 of the REACH Regulation to set the limits for the concentration of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and related substances in any substance or mixture to 25 μg/kg (ppb) and 1000ppb, and officially entered into force on July 4, 2017, PFOA and its salts are widely used in the textile and apparel industry. Currently, there is no mature alternative product. After the standard is tightened, it will affect China's textile products exports of about 60 billion US dollars; In June 2017, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) evaluated the production of titanium dioxide, a dye commonly used in textiles, as a carcinogen, or it will be strictly managed. United States: In March this year, the American Association of Apparel and Footwear (AAFA) updated the 18th edition of the Restricted Substances List (RSL), listing 12 categories and over 250 chemicals, covering global finished home textiles, clothing, and footwear products. Chemicals or substances that are prohibited or restricted in use. Other countries: In May 2017, Australia adopted the standards of the New Zealand Children's Product Safety Act and is scheduled to be officially implemented in January 2020. In March 2017, the Japan Bureau of Consumer Affairs issued an amendment to the “Household Product Quality Labeling Act.†Revision of fiber terminology and product suitability. In addition, on April 1, 2017, the latest version of the Oeko-Tex Standard 100 eco-textiles testing standards and limit value requirements of the International Environmental Textile Association officially entered into force, and various substances such as phthalates were strengthened to control.
Main impact analysis
Deal with increasing difficulty. It is mainly reflected in the fact that the content of technical regulations in the export market is not the same and the updating speed is too fast, which has increased the difficulty of dealing with export companies. For example, European Union regulations focus on toxic and hazardous substances (chemical safety requirements) and physical safety requirements for children's clothing. The United States mainly focuses on combustion performance and children's products, while Japan focuses on physical safety performance (mainly on needles). There are also differences in the restrictions on specific projects, which raises higher requirements for export companies to accurately grasp the laws of various exporting countries and strictly control product design, raw material procurement, and production inspection. Moreover, the revision of technical regulations in various countries is also becoming more and more rapid. In the first half of 2017, only a total of 16 new textile and clothing notification measures were provided by WTO members, an increase of 129% year-on-year.
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Increased trade risks. The results of destruction, detention and recall caused by foreign technical trade measures directly aggravated the export risk of textile and garment enterprises. According to statistics, since 2010, China’s textile and apparel products have been the most notified of products of the European Union’s RAPEX (non-food rapid warning system) similar products. The main reasons for recall are chemical hazards (toxic and hazardous substances) and physical injuries (rope safety ) and suffocation (widgets). From January to June this year, the European Union's RAPEX system reported 21 cases of China's textile and apparel products, and accounted for 25.93% of the products in the same category. In the same period, the United States notified me of 10 textile and apparel products, which is 2.5 times the total number of recalls in 2016.
Export costs have increased. The testing and certification fees brought by the upgrade of foreign technical regulations are increasing. Take the example of the OKEO-TEX 100 eco-textile label certification. It covers all substances of high concern for REACH and many overseas textile and apparel product purchasers will have OKEO-TEX100 product certification. It is considered as an entry permit into the European market. The Oeko-Tex 100 ecological textile certification fees range from 20,000 to 70,000 RMB. Its testing standards and limit values ​​are updated once a year. According to EU estimates, the basic testing cost for each chemical in REACH is around 85,000 Euros, and the cost of testing a new substance is 570,000 Euros.
The inter-exchange market was blocked. In the field of textile and clothing, the standard coverage of China's standards and the value of indicators are still far behind the technical regulations and standards of developed countries such as Europe and the United States. For example, toxic and hazardous substances to be detected in GB18401-2010 "National Basic Technical Specifications for Textile Products" do not cover the detection of phthalates and heavy metals in EU REACH regulations.
Countermeasures and Suggestions
In order to effectively respond to the increasingly stringent foreign technical trade regulations, promote the transformation and upgrading of China's textile and garment industry and enhance its international competitiveness. Four suggestions are proposed.
Accelerate the improvement of the domestic standard system. Dynamically study the technical regulations and standards of developed countries in Europe and America, and actively learn to improve China's textile and garment technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment system. While integrating the realities of China's industrial development, we should reduce the gap between the standard coverage and index detection values ​​and foreign countries as soon as possible, and pave the way for the interconnection of domestic and foreign sales products.
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Improve the ability of foreign technical trade measures to respond. Make full use of the WTO/TBT notification consultation system, make reasonable comments on the proposed standards to be raised by various countries, actively respond to unreasonable notifications, improve the early warning system for technical trade measures, increase corporate publicity and promotion, and regularly organize corporate training. Improve the ability of enterprises to respond to foreign technical trade measures.
Accelerate the implementation of the "Three Goods" strategy. Vigorously implement the strategy of “adding variety, quality, and brand†to promote industrial transformation and upgrading, and gradually change the status quo of China's textile and apparel industry products with low added value, lack of enterprise innovation capability, and long-term dependence on “low-cost†strategies, and fundamentally break away from abroad. The prohibition of technical trade measures.
Diversify the export market. The United States, Japan, and other countries and the European Union account for more than 40% of China's textile and garment export market, making China's textile and apparel export products subject to its increasingly stringent technical regulations. It is recommended to seize the opportunities of the “Belt and Road Initiative†and increase the market development efforts of countries and regions along the “One Belt and One Road†initiative, establish a diversified market system, get rid of excessive dependence on developed country markets, and reduce trade risks.
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