Affected by the COVID-19, China's low-voltage electrical appliance industry will face many difficulties in "going global" in 2020. In 2021, with the normalization of domestic epidemic prevention and control, enterprises resumed work and production with comprehensive stability. Overseas customers reserved inventory for sales in early 2021 (Spring Festival), and Chinese low-voltage electrical enterprises had sufficient orders in hand. Zhang Sen, Secretary General of the Low Voltage Electrical Appliances Branch of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Mechanical and Electrical Products, predicts that China's low-voltage electrical appliance exports will increase by about 8% in the first half of the year.
According to customs statistics, China's low-voltage electrical appliance exports reached 17.38 billion US dollars in 2020, an increase of 7.0% year-on-year; Imports amounted to 14.95 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 2.3%; The trade surplus was 2.43 billion US dollars, an increase of 800 million US dollars from 2019. Since April 2020, China's low-voltage electrical appliance exports have achieved positive growth for 9 consecutive months, with exports reaching 1.92 billion US dollars in December, a significant year-on-year increase of 19.5%. "The normalization of domestic epidemic prevention and control has ensured the normalization of enterprise production and export, the return of overseas orders, and the timely holding of the online Canton Fair, promoting the continuous positive growth of China's low-voltage electrical appliance exports," Zhang Sen said.
China has become the world's largest manufacturer of low-voltage electrical appliances. Most world-renowned low-voltage electrical appliance manufacturers have established production bases in China, and most of their component manufacturing has become localized. "Chinese high-quality low-voltage electrical components suppliers have supplied components and accessories to foreign low-voltage electrical manufacturers, and China holds an important position in the global low-voltage electrical field," Zhang Sen said.
In 2020, the export of China's low-voltage electrical appliances to countries along the "the Belt and Road", such as Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and Saudi Arabia, will be less affected by the epidemic and will grow significantly, with year-on-year growth of more than 20%.
In 2020, the main importing countries for low-voltage electrical appliances in China were Japan, Germany, South Korea, and the United States, accounting for nearly half of China's total low-voltage electrical appliance imports. China has effective epidemic control measures, good resumption of work and production by enterprises, and full orders. Many overseas semi-finished products and parts are transported to China for processing and assembly before being exported globally. The guarantee of domestic production capacity has increased the demand for imports.
With the development of domestic brands towards the mid to high end market, domestic low-voltage electrical products will gradually achieve import substitution. "The market structure of low-voltage electrical appliances will develop towards a spindle shape, and the domestic high-end and mid-range low-voltage electrical appliance markets are expected to continue to expand," Zhang Sen said. With the continuous development of the economy and the continuous improvement of people's living standards, the demand for low-voltage electrical appliances will become increasingly high. The low-end market is shrinking, and small businesses lacking research and development capabilities are gradually disappearing. Some industries in China are showing a trend of accelerating the penetration of the low-end market into the high-end market. In addition, domestic leading enterprises that originally focused on the mid to high end market have continuously accumulated their technological research and development capabilities, and their product safety and reliability have been continuously improved. They have actively moved up to the high-end market in terms of product lines and market layout.
Under the severe and complex development environment of foreign trade and the impact of the COVID-19, in 2021, China's low-voltage electrical appliance foreign trade enterprises will face many difficulties in operation.
"At present, except for the leading companies in China's low-voltage electrical industry, most of them are still in a labor-intensive industrial ecosystem, and there is a problem of difficult employment for enterprises." Zhang Sen said
