I. General situation of the industry
According to Wenzhou Customs statistics, the total export value of clothing and clothing accessories in the first quarter of our city was 1.87 billion yuan, an increase of 7.7% over the same period of last year. There are two main reasons for the sharp year-on-year increase in exports: First, the sustained and stable recovery of the domestic economy has strongly stimulated the export intention of enterprises; In addition, the low base is also one of the reasons for the large increase this year. Affected by the epidemic situation in COVID-19, clothing exports in the first quarter of last year decreased by 7.73% year-on-year. From the data point of view, there is still a certain gap between the export volume of the garment industry in the first quarter and the normal year, such as 2.14 billion yuan in 2018 and 1.94 billion yuan in 2019. In 2021, global procurement will continue to be affected by the epidemic situation, the demand power in the international market is insufficient, trade protectionism is intensifying, the export pressure of garment industry in our city is increasing day by day, the production and operation of foreign trade garment production enterprises are facing difficulties, and the business order prosperity index and export confidence index are running at a low level.
Second, the difficulties faced by enterprises
At present, the development of foreign trade garment industry still faces many unstable and uncertain factors:
First of all, the epidemic remains the biggest uncertainty, the global vaccine supply is unbalanced, and the cross-border movement of goods and people is still limited.
Secondly, globalization is facing an adverse current, and the politicization of trade issues directly affects the international production, supply and trade capacity, and interferes with the international trade order.
Third, the international industrial chain supply chain has been profoundly adjusted and its instability has increased. International logistics capacity is tight and freight is high; The price of raw materials continues to rise, and the price of clothing raw materials has reached a new high of nearly three years, raising the comprehensive cost of enterprises; Problems such as difficult and expensive recruitment are prominent, and the turnover rate of employees in enterprises has increased by about 30% year-on-year.
Fourth, the downward pressure on the global economy has further increased, and the fear of the Great Depression and Great Recession in the market has deepened. The foreign trade clothing industry in our city has been deeply affected. It is expected that the annual foreign trade growth rate will show a trend of “first high and then low”, so we can’t be blindly optimistic.
III. Comments and suggestions
In recent years, in order to meet the market demand, improve the product quality and grade, and enhance the competitiveness of products in domestic and foreign markets, foreign trade garment manufacturing enterprises in our city have spared no expense to introduce new technologies, new processes and new equipment into technological transformation, which has rapidly improved the product quality and grade, won opportunities for enterprise development, and achieved good economic and social benefits. At the same time, in order to promote the development of local economy, the municipal party committee and the municipal government have tried every means to help enterprises make suggestions, solve worries and difficulties, and encourage enterprises to speed up technological transformation. For this reason, a series of preferential policies have been issued to support enterprises to invest in information management, investment in intelligent equipment, technological transformation of major projects, etc., and rewards have been given according to the proportion of investment, giving full play to the leverage of financial funds. However, most of the small and medium-sized enterprises in our city are private enterprises or private joint-stock enterprises. Their founding time is long or short, and their scales are different. The common problems are that the technical content of products is not high, the market competitiveness is not strong, and the vast majority of enterprises are restricted by the international trade environment and the process is slow. In order to further enhance the confidence of small and medium-sized business owners in the investment in technological transformation such as new projects, new technologies, new materials, new processes and intelligent production equipment, it is suggested that the municipal party committee and the municipal government, while honoring the existing support policies, continue to increase assistance to enterprises in the following aspects:
First, further increase special policy support. It is suggested that the municipal party committee and the municipal government should issue a special policy to support and reward technological transformation, support and encourage enterprises to invest in the Internet, intelligent manufacturing equipment, application of advanced production technology, product upgrading, etc., and give a certain proportion of rewards according to the actual investment quota, which will help accelerate the pace of technological transformation, improve product quality, upgrade the quality of operation and management, and realize the sustainable development of enterprises.
The second is to further increase the support for financing loans. In recent years, the prices of various raw and auxiliary materials, such as metal, chemical fiber and fabric, have doubled, resulting in a doubling of the demand for working capital of enterprises, which has made the already inadequate working capital of enterprises even more tense. It is suggested that the municipal party committee and the municipal government introduce targeted measures to help enterprises solve the financing difficulties in new product development, project transformation and intelligent production investment, and give strong support in financing for good projects that have been certified by professional departments and have development potential.
The third is to further increase the support for talent employment. At present, the problem that people are difficult to recruit and people are difficult to use has become a stubborn disease that restricts the development of enterprises. Many enterprises cannot expand their production scale due to personnel factors, and some enterprises dare not accept orders, resulting in a slow increase in output. It is suggested that relevant departments should rely on the talent market, conduct research, statistics and summary on the surplus labor force in various towns and villages, coordinate Wenzhou’s advantageous industries, integrate them into rural revitalization, serve the county economy, and provide jobs nearby for ordinary people; At the same time, establish a long-term cooperative relationship with the human resources management departments of provinces and cities with large personnel output, and provide human intelligence support for accelerating local economic development.
The fourth is to further strengthen the implementation of the policy of benefiting enterprises. Establish a joint meeting system of the policy of benefiting enterprises, with the municipal government as the general convener, with members composed of leaders in charge of the Municipal Finance Bureau and relevant departments directly under the municipal government. According to the needs, the meeting will be convened temporarily to study and evaluate the feasibility and rationality of the policy of benefiting enterprises, and timely and effectively coordinate and solve new situations and new problems in the fulfillment of the policy of benefiting enterprises.
(Contributed by Wenzhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce)