1. Price of Rubber Raw Materials Greatly Fluctuated, Cost of Enterprises Hard to Be Controlled
In 2011, the price of raw materials such as rubber fluctuated greatly. In the first quarter, NR hit the highest historical record of 43,500 RMB yuan/ton. In the second quarter and the third quarter, SR kept increasing to 10,000 RMB yuan/ton, and then slumped. Affected by severe fluctuation of the price of rubber, main enterprises manufacturing rubber products such as tires bore the brunt of increased inventory risk. It was hard to control their operating costs and therefore their profits were reduced to 2%～5%. This industry was faced with severe challenges.
2. Tianjin Kumho Quality Affair Alerted Tire Industry to Strengthen Self-discipline
“3•15” Tianjin Kumho Tire Affair exposed the improper use of recycled rubber, which caused great response in the industry, alerting tire enterprises. CRIA quickly held a forum on tire industry improving quality and strengthening self-discipline and proposed the industry to be self-disciplined. AQSIQ, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and State Administration for Industry & Commerce quickly started the special rectification activity on auto tires.
After the exposure of Tianjin Kumho Tire Affair, all tire enterprises held meetings in time and inspected their tire quality and worksite management more than being shocked. They thought this affair was not resulted from technology problem but management problem, reflecting poor attention paid to quality management and worksite management by enterprises in recent years, Leaders of enterprises must deepen their understandings and put quality in the first place to guarantee the tire products to be safe and reliable all along. Meanwhile, they should adopt modern management mode and introduce the informatization and visualization management to realize the prosecution for tire quality, reducing the influence caused by human factors with efforts. Besides, they urged the state to strengthen supervision for tire market, strictly implement tire industry policies and regulate tire market to form a fair and virtuous competition mechanism.
3. The Industry Slowed Increase Rationally and Began to Develop Healthily
Due to large fluctuation of price of rubber raw materials, continuous recession of the domestic and overseas market and decrease of internal demand, the growing rate of output and export of main Chinese rubber products dropped, however drastic rise and drop didn’t occur, ensuring the stable operation of the economy on the whole. Meanwhile, the quality of the operation has been optimized: the product structure adjustment went on well, the proportion of radial tires reached 86.5% with the year-on-year growth of 2.5% and other product structures were improved greatly; the transformation of growth pattern of rubber industry has achieved initial success, the dependence on overseas demand of tires was reduced; the implementation of low-carbon economy gained significant achievement and the energy consumption of the industry decreased, generating a batch of energy-saving equipment, with products such as green tires and green raw materials emerging. These changes indicated that proper drop of the current economy growth was helpful to the structure adjustment and the promotion of each reform. The operation of Chinese rubber industry economy began to develop healthily.
4. World Power of Rubber Industry Strategy Started
The development for over 30 years of Chinese rubber industry since reform and opening to the outside world, especially the rapid development during the “11th Five-Year Plan” period, laid solid foundation for its stable and fast development in the future. The “12th Five-Year Plan” period will be a crucial period for Chinese rubber industry turns from a large power to a great power of rubber industry in the world.
CRIA put forward 10 prospective strategic measures in building world power of rubber industry, namely: new material development strategy, multi-market strategy, low-carbon economy strategy, circular economy strategy, rubber product brand strategy, modern marketing pattern strategy, M&A strategy, modern enterprise administration strategy, technology innovation strategy and talent strategy. From November 8 to November 10, “The 12th National Rubber Industry Information Conference & World Power of Rubber Industry Strategy & Development Forum” was held in Nanchang City, formally starting the rubber power development strategy.
Chinese rubber industry will get substantial improvement through big adjustment, big transformation and big acquisition, greatly shortening its gap with world power of rubber industry and quickening its step from a large power to a great power of the worldwide rubber industry in the period of from being large to being strong. We believe that with right striving direction and objective and feasible strategic measures, China is possible to be basically established a world power of rubber industry in the “13th Five-Year Plan” period.
5. Rubber Industry Set Off a Green Wave
With the implementation of EU REACH Regulations and EU Tire Labeling Law to be formally implemented in November 2012, the domestic tire enterprises were faced with bigger and bigger pressure of safe environmental protection. The safe environmental protection products produced by green raw materials have been the general course of development. To response to the global green manufacture trend, the domestic tire and the upstream and downstream enterprises have set off a green wave since this year.
On April 26, NDRC formally published the Guide Catalogues on Adjusting Industrial Structure (2011 Edition), clearly eliminating the production device of rubber vulcanization accelerator NOBS and rubber antioxidant D and making rubber peptizing agent pentachlorothiophenol and rubber accelerator TMTD listed in the restricted products, which further guaranteed the green manufacture in tire industry through policy.
Green tire products of enterprises such as Double Coin Holdings, Hangzhou Zhongce and Triangle passed the EPA SMARTWAY Certification successively. Aeolus Tire Co., Ltd. declared that its all-steel radial tire products would be all made from green nontoxic raw materials and its all-steel tires sold in global market all met the requirements of EU REACH Regulations since May.
Qilu Petrochemical Rubber Plant, Lanzhou Petrochemical Synthetic Rubber Plant and Dushanzi Petrochemical Company successively switched to produce and develop eco-friendly SR successfully. On December 2, Lanxess Group and CPCIF held the Green Rubber Day activity in Beijing, which was greatly supported by CRIA, jointly promoting the application of green tire and high-performance rubber.
6. China Rubber Valley Established, Being the Engine of the Industry Development
In January 2011, “China Rubber Valley”, drawn lessons from American “Silicon Valley”, was established in Qingdao City. This valley is a high-end industrial cluster covering associations of the industry, universities, scientific research institutions, famous rubber enterprises, and relevant intermediary services with a total area of about 3,000 mu as planned, which has 6 functions as scientific research education, business incubation, information platform, exhibition and commerce, culture expo and intermediary financing. At present, the 1st phase project with the total building area of 350,000m2 has completely built.
Akron City, U.S., with the name of “World Rubber City”, and Sifang District, Qingdao City, formally signed the strategic cooperation agreement for friendly cities and districts; CRIA, Qingdao Sifang District People’s Government, Qingdao University of Science & Technology and MESNAC Co., Ltd. signed the strategic cooperation agreement. Office of CRIA in Rubber Valley, Rubber Hoses & Belts Branch, Rubber Shoes Branch and China TPI Scientific Research Institute has settled in Rubber Valley.
At present, the layout of domestic rubber industry is scattered and the regional development is inharmonious. The establishment of Rubber Valley is an important event in Chinese rubber industry development history, which will effectively gather all kinds of resources make the industry bigger and stronger in fierce international competition and play an important leading role in the development of Chinese rubber industry.
7. TPI Leading the Development of TPI Industry
TPI industry is an inter-industry, inter-region, inter-department and inter-field industrial system with complex of agriculture and industry, covering many departments such as industry, agriculture, forestry, medicine and health care. Only depending on each other and developing coordinately can the whole industrial chain make the biggest profit and realize sustainable development. Not only people from agriculture and forestry, but also people from rubber industry, even relevant government departments agree on the development of TPI. They think that TPI and its application will play a leading role in the development of the whole industry chain.
In March 2011, CRIA sponsored to organize the Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance of TPI Industry, helping those member units dedicated to the industrialization of TPI to establish production, study and research cooperation relationship with relevant universities and research institutions. On October 16, China TPI Scientific Research Institute was founded in Qingdao City. This is the first TPI science and technology research institute in China, which will develop to the information platform, R&D platform, application platform, inspection platform and talent training platform of the whole Chinese TPI industry and the important base for formulating TPI production standard.
8. The Illegality of Anti-subsidy on Chinese Engineering Tires Judged by American Court Had a Positive Effect on the Industry
On December 19, 2011, U.S. time, CAFC made a judgment on off-the-road tires judicial case that U.S. Department of Commerce couldn’t conduct the anti-subsidy investigation when considering China as a non-market economy country. On this issue, head of Bureau of Fair Trade of Department of Commerce said that anti-subsidy investigation conducted by U.S. on China for many years not only violated WTO rules but also lacked U.S. legal basis, hoping U.S. corrected its wrong behavior of conducting anti-subsidy investigation on Chinese products under the condition of derecognizing China’s market economy status as soon as possible.
In the “Double Anti” investigation, anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations are unfair trades aimed at different types. Anti-dumping is aimed at investigating whether the foreign exporters sell involved products with unfair low price in the U.S.; anti-subsidy is aimed at investigating whether the foreign exporters get subsidies violating regulations from their host governments.
Not only Hebei Xingmao and about 10 enterprises involved in the export of engineering tires were beneficial, about 30 anti-subsidy investigation cases conducted by U.S on China during the past 5 years need to be corrected. The judgment of this judicial case subverted the root of the U.S. Double Anti investigation, which played a positive role on response to trade friction for Chinese tire and rubber industry in the future.
9. Rubber Industry Gained Great Achievements in Energy Saving and Emission Reduction
It is always important work for rubber industry to save energy and reduce pollution and emission. In 2011, enterprises of the industry gained great achievements in energy saving and emission reduction with technology as the guide.
The process of low temperature direct rubber mixing, developed by Triangle Group Co., Ltd., MESNAC Co., Ltd., Yiyang Rubber and Plastics Machinery Co., Ltd., TTA (Qingdao) Tire Technology Co., Ltd., Guangzhou SCUT Bestry Technology Co., Ltd., has realized decreasing power consumption per ton by about 20% and increased the production efficiency by more than 200%, which made revolutionary technological breakthroughs for energy saving and emission reduction in tire industry of our country and was widely focused by many tire enterprises.
In recent years, technology innovation has made substantial progress in the industry of comprehensive utilization of waste rubber. In 2011, energy-saving innovative products of each enterprise emerged in endlessly: “BP Wire-controlled Waste All-steel Radial Tire Rubber Powder Outfit” developed by Zhejiang Lionheart Industrial Equipment Co., Ltd., “New Energy-saving Automatic Production Line for Molding of Reclaimed Rubber” developed by Changzhou Sanxiang Machinery Co., Ltd., “NEZ Automatic Program-controlled Waste Tire Treatment & Production Line” developed by Jiangyin Naichi Machinery Technology Co., Ltd. with application of 42 patent technologies, “Comprehensive Rubber Crusher Production Line for Automatic & Safe Stripping and Slicing of Waste Tire” developed by Henan Zhongying Rubber Technology Co., Ltd., “General Non-casting Compound Alloy Roller” developed by Suzhou Dongjun Rubber Machinery Plant and single-crew desulphurization patented product “Continuous Desulphurization Technology & Equipment for Rubber Reclaiming under Normal Pressure” developed by Dujiangyan Xinshidai Industry & Trade Co., Ltd., etc. Besides, there were great innovative breakthroughs in 7 fields such as structure design of tools used for smash of waste all-steel tires and the application of hard alloy, design and technology of continuous reclaimed machine tools under high temperature and normal pressure, design and manufacture of hard alloy steel structure roller, continuous automatic production of reclaimed materials, bridge rectifier heating technology under intermediate frequency and R&D of new activator and penetrant.
10. Top 100 Enterprises Emerged, Prompting the Industry to Become Strong from Large
To boost the industry development and support excellent and strong enterprises, CRIA formally launched “Top 100 Enterprises in Chinese Rubber Industry” from 2011. After being reviewed by experts and put on the bulletin of the industry, list of 100 Top Enterprises was formally published in “2011 China Rubber Industry Conference Session & China Rubber Industry Expo” held in the middle of March. Top 100 Enterprises are all leaders of the industry with advanced strategic thinking, sustainable innovation ability, famous trademark and brand, excellent talent team, unique enterprise culture and strong sense of social responsibility, making great contribution to the development of Chinese rubber industry. Meanwhile, brand products, credit rubber traders and credit tire dealers recommended by the association were published, further promoting the implementation of the brand strategy in Chinese rubber industry, which helps outstanding enterprises to improve their popularity and supports enterprises to be larger, stronger and more excellent.
