Due to the proper control of the domestic epidemic, the foreign epidemic is still severe, and the global demand for Chinese products has surged, my country's export growth this year has been very impressive, and the export of architectural ceramics has also experienced growth.
Recently, the General Administration of Customs released statistical data. In the first five months of this year, my country's exports of trade goods were 8.04 trillion yuan, an increase of 30.1% year-on-year in 2020 and an increase of 23.6% compared with the same period in 2019. In addition, in the first four months of this year, my country's construction ceramics export volume was 3.97 million tons, with a cumulative value of 13.026 billion yuan, an increase of 12.1% and 21.5% respectively over the same period last year.
However, precisely because of the unequal level of epidemic control at home and abroad, the phenomenon of "mountains of containers abroad and shortage of containers domestically" has appeared in logistics, which has caused my country's export logistics costs to soar, and the shipping price of a container has generally increased. 3-4 times, and some lines even jumped 10 times, from US$2,000 to US$20,000.
Global shipping is in supply chain crisis
Major shipping companies have increased prices
Under the influence of the epidemic, the global shipping supply chain crisis is concentrated in the shortage of stevedores, port congestion, and mismatch between container supply and demand.
For example, after the epidemic in New Zealand gradually eased, its domestic demand for imported goods surged, resulting in a significant increase in loading and unloading volume at the Port of Auckland, New Zealand. However, there was a serious shortage of stevedores at the port. What's more serious is that 15% of the world's seafarers are from India, and the continued deterioration of the epidemic in India has caused some ports to impose restrictions on Indian crews and ships.
The aftermath of the Suez Canal blockage incident has not yet been resolved, and the impact of the new crown epidemic has been superimposed, resulting in port congestion. There are sometimes more than 10 container ships waiting to load and unload cargo at the Port of Auckland, New Zealand, with an average delay of 8-10 days. Currently, at least 7 of the 10 busiest ports in the United States are often congested, with customers from Southeast Asia, Europe and other countries frequently experiencing congestion. Ships in major ports have to wait for more than a week to berth.
At the same time, the inventory of empty containers in some important international ports has reached three times the normal level: 10,000 to 15,000 containers are stranded in California, USA; containers at Felixstowe Port in the UK have spread from the port to the surrounding areas. Suburban areas; the number of empty containers at Australian ports has exceeded 50,000.
Affected by the global shipping supply chain crisis, major shipping companies around the world have recently issued a new round of price increase notices. Since June 1, Hapag-Lloyd, CMA CGM, and Mediterranean Shipping Company have all increased the fees on routes from East Asia to North America.
Among them, Hapag-Lloyd has increased the comprehensive rate increase surcharge (GRI) for eastbound routes from East Asia to the United States and Canada, with an increase range of 960-1200 US dollars/box; CMA CGM raised the GRI for routes from Asian ports to the United States and Canada, with an increase range of 900-1600 US dollars/box; Mediterranean Shipping Company raised the GRI for routes from Asia to the United States, with an increase range of 800-1266 US dollars/box... …
Wanhai Shipping has already raised the freight rate for cargo exported from China to Asia starting from May 22, with the increase range being US$300-600 per box.
Maersk, the world's largest container shipping company, predicts that supply chain bottlenecks and container shortages in 2021 will continue until the fourth quarter before returning to normal. Sespan, the world's largest independent container ship owner, believes that the boom in the container shipping market may continue until 2023-2024; since last year, Sespan has ordered 37 ships, and these new ships are expected to be shipped by the end of 2023. Delivery is scheduled for half a year to mid-2024.
“Scalpers” start at low prices
Container freight rates rise up to 10 times
Currently, 90% of the world's trade transportation is completed by sea transportation, and there are more than 40 million containers operating around the world. However, containers are stranded overseas, which directly makes it difficult to find a container in China. Prices on routes exported to Europe, the United States, and the Middle East have generally increased three to four times, which has also attracted "scalpers" to intervene and raise prices.
Ms. Li, who is engaged in import and export trade in Nanhai District, Foshan, told Ceramic Information that her company rarely uses scalpers because even if the price is increased by 2,000-3,000 US dollars, it may not be able to grab the shipping space; in addition, "scalpers" are also active in In the towing process, for example, the normal towing fee for loading containers from Shenzhen to Foshan is 2,300 yuan, but if there is a shortage of towing, "scalpers" can charge as much as 8,000 yuan.
“Now, it takes a long time from booking to picking up the container and shipping, and the price has also increased several times than before. Before the epidemic, a 40-foot container in Europe cost more than 2,000 US dollars, but now it costs more than 8,000 US dollars. , sometimes rising to more than 10,000 US dollars. "Ms. Li said that the towing fee is only occasionally increased, and now the main reason is that the increase in sea freight is too exaggerated: "Whether it is FOB or CFR terms, customers have to pay sea freight. Nowadays, sea freight has been raised. The fees are too high, which prevents many customers from placing orders, so the only ones who can place orders now are powerful and large customers.”
The sharp increase in sea freight was also confirmed by Mr. Zhang, who is engaged in import and export trade in Chancheng District, Foshan. He pointed out that an important contradiction between supply and demand is currentlyThe shield is that "there are too many containers but too many containers because overseas containers cannot be returned", which has led to a stepwise increase in domestic container freight rates.
“Sea freight has increased every once in a while this year, and it has increased several times now.” Mr. Zhang further said, “Currently, the cost of a cabinet sent to the Middle East has increased from more than 1,000 US dollars to more than 3,000 US dollars. , the price of a heavy container sent to Europe and the United States has increased from more than 3,000 US dollars to more than 10,000 US dollars.”
The current situation that sea freight has generally increased three to four times has made ceramic tile foreign traders lament that "the price of ceramic tiles is not as expensive as the freight price."
Faced with domestic shortages of containers and rising freight rates, domestic manufacturers are working overtime to produce containers, and major domestic ports are also actively returning overseas empty containers. In this regard, Kang Shuchun, president of the International Freight Forwarding Branch of the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, pointed out: "The average freight cost of a container shipped from China to the United States was US$2,000 in the past, but now it has risen to US$20,000 or even higher, with a profit of 10 times in the middle. Space. Even if the cost of shipping back is high, the profit margin of the outbound freight can cover the return cost of empty containers, so now we are looking for ways to return empty containers from overseas. ”
Affected by the epidemic in Guangdong
Goods from Guangfo are prohibited from entering certain areas in the country
In the past few days, the epidemic in Guangdong has attracted keen attention from people across the country. Cheers such as "Stay strong in Guangzhou, stay strong in Foshan Mountain, and hold on in Shenzhen" are all over the Internet. Affected by the epidemic in Guangdong, certain areas across the country have banned logistics from Guangfo. This is worth noting for Foshan ceramic tile manufacturers.
Affected by the epidemic, Guangdong has implemented control measures for incoming and outgoing logistics vehicles. For example, starting from 22:00 on May 31, Guangzhou City has launched free nucleic acid testing for all trunk logistics drivers; starting from 12:00 on June 7, trucks leaving Guangzhou and Foshan out of the province will take 48 hours to Proof of negative nucleic acid test.
Although trucks delivering goods in various cities in Guangdong Province do not yet require a nucleic acid negative certificate within 48 hours, informed ceramic enterprise business personnel told "Ceramic Information" that truck drivers are required to provide a nucleic acid negative certificate when loading goods at Foshan manufacturers. , In addition, Zhanjiang Wuchuan has temporarily banned the entry of logistics trucks from Guangzhou and Foshan due to the diagnosis of a patient imported from Guangzhou on June 6.
A notice from the Wuchuan City New Coronavirus Epidemic Prevention and Control Headquarters in Zhanjiang shows that starting from 12:00 on June 7, more than ten lines including Shantou-Zhan Expressway, G228, S285, S286, X645, X723, Y959, Y977, etc.Vehicles driving into or out of Wuchuan City are subject to traffic control. Except for emergency vehicles and vehicles transporting supplies, other vehicles and their accompanying personnel are not allowed to enter or exit.
Not only does Wuchuan strictly control incoming and outgoing traffic, "Ceramic Information" also learned through several logistics companies in Foshan that currently logistics from Guangdong has also been restricted from entering Xinjiang, and logistics from Guangdong to other provinces and cities remains as normal.
For ceramic people, the most concerned thing is whether the logistics cost from Foshan has increased? The above-mentioned logistics companies stated that they have not increased prices for the time being. "Ceramic Information" checked with dealers in Harbin, Tianjin, Kunming, Hangzhou, Xiamen and other places. They all said that shipments from Foshan are still normal at present, and they have not received notices of logistics price increases.
(The article is reproduced from Ceramic Information)
