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1. The economic operation of the rubber industry remains stable

In 2018, the overall economic operation of China’s rubber industry remained stable. Due to the decline in domestic automobile production and sales and the adjustment of logistics and transportation methods, the market for rubber tire products has been affected accordingly. According to the statistical data of China Rubber Industry Association, it is expected that the main business income of major member companies will increase by about 5% year-on-year, the profit will increase by about 25% year-on-year, the export delivery value will increase by about 8% year-on-year, and the profit margin of sales revenue will be about 5%. Among them, due to the fact that the price of raw materials in the tire industry is basically stable throughout the year, the costs of labor, energy, and environmental protection are basically controllable, the rigidity of the domestic and foreign demand markets ensures the basic production capacity, the appreciation of the US dollar has improved export earnings, and overseas factories have good benefits. The base is relatively low. Although the tire output is basically the same as that of the previous year, the benefit is expected to be better than that of the previous year.

2. Intensified international trade frictions make exports more difficult

Since March 2018, the trade conflict between China and the United States has intensified. Almost all products in my country’s rubber product industry chain have been included in the US $200 billion taxation list. Add variables. Europe and the United States are important markets for my country’s tire exports. On September 5, 2018, the U.S. Department of Commerce released the preliminary results of the second annual administrative review of the anti-dumping investigation on Chinese passenger and light truck tires. %, which is more than 6 times higher than the original anti-dumping deposit rate; the European Commission launched a “double anti-dumping” investigation on new truck and bus tires and retreaded tires in my country in 2017, and officially announced the anti-dumping and retreading on October 22, 2018 and November 12 The final anti-subsidy ruling imposed a fixed tax of 42.73 to 61.76 euros on each tire of trucks and buses exported from China to the EU. In addition, on March 30, 2018, India also announced a countervailing investigation on new pneumatic truck and bus tires imported from China. The intensification of international trade frictions has increased the variables in China’s rubber products export market.

3. The merger and reorganization of the rubber industry is more active

Due to the changes in the domestic and foreign market environment, the mergers and reorganizations of rubber companies became more active in 2018, and bankruptcies also occurred frequently. The supply-side reform of the rubber industry continued to deepen. On July 6, Doublestar Group acquired a 45% stake in Kumho Tire at a price of about 3.9 billion yuan and officially became its controlling shareholder. The merger is expected to bring a multiplier effect to both parties. Sailun Group has in-depth cooperation with Cooper Company. On September 26, it announced to purchase 35% equity of Qingdao Greida for 220 million yuan, and the other 65% equity belongs to Cooper Company. On December 3, Fengshen Co., Ltd. announced the overall transfer of Huanghai Rubber’s equity, and will no longer host 100% of Guilin Baili Tire’s equity. The company’s future development will be easy on the road. In addition, there are many enterprises in Shandong area that have undergone mergers, acquisitions or trusteeship, such as the acquisition of Longyue Tire by Huadong Rubber, and the lease of Guofeng by Huasheng Rubber. At the same time, due to problems in the market and capital chain, some companies have gone bankrupt, liquidated, and auctioned as a whole, such as Shandong Hengyu, Ogory, Shandong Yongtai, Chongqing Hengxu Rubber Products, Zhechen Rubber, Henan Zhongying Rubber and other companies. As a group of small-scale, poor-quality, and low-brand enterprises are eliminated, the concentration of my country’s rubber industry will further increase.

4. Accelerate the global layout of overseas factories

In 2018, Chinese rubber companies accelerated their pace of going global, and many companies announced the establishment of overseas factories to promote globalization. On April 22, Triangle Tire held a launch ceremony for Triangle Tire (USA) in Weihai, announcing an investment of US$580 million to build a “smart factory” with an annual output of 6 million radial tires in North Carolina, USA. On July 5, Haochen Plastic Industry (Thailand) Co., Ltd. opened in Rayong Industrial Park, Thailand, planning to build 5 production lines for isolation film and feeding bags. On August 20, Linglong Tire announced that it will invest 990 million US dollars to build a high-performance radial tire factory in Serbia with an annual output of 13.62 million high-performance radial tires with an intelligent production line standard. On September 17, Jiangsu GM announced that it plans to build a project with an annual output of 1 million all-steel tires and 6 million semi-steel tires in Rayong Industrial Park, Thailand. On October 9, Hailide (Vietnam), a subsidiary of Zhejiang Hailide, completed the registration and plans to invest 155 million US dollars to build a differentiated polyester industrial filament project with an annual output of 110,000 tons. On November 12, Quechen Silicon Chemical decided to increase the capital of its Quechen Silicon (Thailand) company by US$15 million for the construction and operation of the silica production line. On December 12, Sailun (Vietnam) and Cooper Vietnam signed a joint venture contract, holding 65% of the joint venture company, and building a 2.4 million/year all-steel tire project in Vietnam. On December 18, Xingda Europe, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jiangsu Xingda, opened in Luxembourg. On December 25, Prinx Chengshan announced that it had reached an agreement with a developer in Thailand to purchase 433,600 to 480,000 square meters of land in Chonburi, Thailand to build a tire production base.

5. A number of preferential policies have been introduced to enjoy dividends in the industry

In 2018, the international trade environment is facing many uncertainties. For this reason, the country has introduced a number of policies to help enterprises reduce costs and increase efficiency. On September 5 and October 22, the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation issued two notices to increase the export tax rebate rate of some products from November 1, 2018. Among them, the export tax rebate rate of tires, rubber hose belts, rubber products and other products is set by 9% increased to 13%, and the export tax rebate rate for raw materials such as natural rubber and synthetic rubber increased from 5% to 10%. On September 20, the Ministry of Finance, the State Administration of Taxation, and the Ministry of Science and Technology jointly issued a notice stating that from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2020, the pre-tax deduction ratio of corporate R&D expenses will increase by 25%, supporting enterprises to increase With large R&D investment, rubber companies also enjoy policy dividends. On October 29, Shandong Province issued the “Implementation Plan on Accelerating the High-quality Development of Seven High Energy Consumption Industries”, which will promote the survival of the fittest and transformation of the tire industry based on indicators such as energy consumption, efficiency, per mu contribution, technical evaluation, and quality standards. upgrade.

6. The “Second Pollution General” survey of the rubber industry determines the accounting method for pollution production and discharge

The Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People’s Republic of China carried out the “Second National Survey of Pollution Sources” in 2018. As one of the participating units, the China Rubber Industry Association undertook the “291 Sub-project of the Calculation Method and Guidelines for the Production and Discharge of Rubber Products Industry”. The purpose of this “Second Pollution Survey” is to find out the basic situation of various pollution sources and establish a pollution production and discharge accounting method suitable for the rubber product industry. Experts organized by the China Rubber Association have determined that the pollutants discharged by the rubber products industry are mainly industrial wastewater and Industrial waste gas is the main source. Waste water is mainly domestic water such as equipment cooling circulation water in the production process and workshop cleaning and sanitation water. The waste gas is mainly particulate matter and non-methane total hydrocarbons. The calculation of the emission coefficient of industrial pollution sources in the rubber product industry has been carried out, and finally determined The production and discharge coefficient will be used as one of the basis for the country to formulate environmental protection policies for the rubber industry in the future. The subject was accepted by the Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences on December 25.

7. Intelligent manufacturing has become the direction of industry technology upgrading

In 2018, intelligent manufacturing was deeply promoted in the rubber industry and became the first choice for new projects and technological transformation and upgrading. Many tire companies have announced the construction of “smart factories” overseas. Among them, the newly built Double Coin Tire Thailand factory adopts the “4411” model, and has built 4 sets of automated three-dimensional warehouse systems, 4 sets of automated conveyor systems, and 1 set of semi-finished AGV conveyors system, a set of information management system, and created a brand new all-steel tire intelligent factory. On June 23, Doublestar Dongfeng Tire Industry 4.0 Smart Factory started construction, and plans to upgrade the relocated Doublestar Dongfeng Tire subsidiary to a “smart” factory. On September 17, MESNAC Smart Factory Experience Center was officially opened, creating a new industrial manufacturing practice mode. Zhongce Rubber introduced the concept of Alibaba Cloud ET industrial brain, allowing big data to accurately guide production, procurement and R&D in the transformation of old factories, and extending from the rubber mixing process to the depth to achieve intelligent development. Shandong Shengtong is the first intelligent chemical factory of a domestic steel cord enterprise. The control hall, production line, testing, sorting and packing processes, and three-dimensional warehouses have all realized intelligentization. Shanghai Huili Footwear launched the “Huaili City” development plan, the core of which is “online manufacturing”, so that all processes will develop in the direction of automation, intelligence and data. The automatic tire spring overturning machine independently developed by China has been put into use in two key enterprises, Zhongce Rubber and Sichuan Yuanxing, which has greatly improved the efficiency and quality of tire molding.

8. Environmental protection and green production have achieved fruitful results

In 2018, the green production work of the rubber industry’s environmental protection management has been fruitful. Tire companies have increased investment in environmental protection, focusing on green design, green technology, and green supply chain throughout the entire production process. Many companies have been selected as green factories by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Triangle (Weishan) Huada Tire, Zhongce Chaoyang Tire, etc. Wastewater treatment effect is obvious. The rubber additives industry attaches great importance to source treatment and end treatment, which has basically solved the problem of high-salt organic wastewater in the industry. Many companies have upgraded production and environmental protection processes on new production lines, and the entire industry has achieved environmental protection standards. Check to ensure the “stable supply” of rubber additives. The carbon black industry has vigorously improved the “three wastes” treatment technology to achieve comprehensive utilization of boiler flue gas ultra-low emissions and tail gas power generation. For example, Shijiazhuang Xinxing Carbon Co., Ltd. is the first in the carbon black industry to achieve de-whitening treatment to achieve ultra-low emissions of pollutants . The waste rubber comprehensive utilization industry is actively carrying out green transformation, especially the reclaimed rubber industry is constantly reforming the production process, reducing exhaust emissions from the source, more applications of atmospheric continuous desulfurization equipment, and a significant increase in automation level.

9. Major breakthroughs in micro-chemical industrialization technology

In 2018, a major breakthrough was made in the industrialization technology of rubber additive microchemical (micro reaction channel). Puyang Weilin New Material Co., Ltd.’s 5,000-ton/year accelerator TBzTD and Shandong Sidier Chemical Technology Co., Ltd.’s 10,000-ton/year anti-aging agent TMQ micro-reaction channel production lines have achieved industrialization. Microchemical technology has outstanding advantages such as significantly shortened reaction time, reduced reaction volume, safe and controllable reaction, safer and more environmentally friendly, easier to achieve continuous automation, and more cost-competitive. Micro-chemical technology is a revolutionary subversion of traditional chemical processes and equipment, opening a new era of high-efficiency and refined chemical engineering. The industrialization of micro-chemical technology has set a new milestone for the rubber additives industry, and also laid a good foundation for future intelligent production.

10. China Rubber Association strengthens group standards to lead the technological progress of the industry

Since the implementation of the “Standard Management Measures of China Rubber Industry Association (Trial)” in 2016, China Rubber Association has actively promoted the construction of group standards, strived to make standards in line with international standards, and lead the technological progress of the industry with advanced standards. In 2018, the China Rubber Association formulated a total of 10 group standards in the fields of conveyor belts, tire molds, rubber products, tires, and recycled rubber, namely: “Heat-resistant Steel Cord Cord Flame-Resistant Conveyor Belt”, “Abrasion-resistant Fabric Whole Core Resistance Combustion Conveyor Belt”, “Light Steel Cord Conveyor Belt for Tunnel”, “Aramid Fabric Core Flame Retardant Conveyor Belt for Coal Mine”, “Para-aramid Filament and Cord for Conveyor Belt”, “Giant Engineering Machinery Tire Mold”, “Tire Vulcanization Capsule” Mold”, “Frustum-shaped Rubber Fender”, “E-series Recycled Rubber”, “Technical Specifications for Green Design Product Evaluation, Automobile Tires”. Among them, the “Green Design Product Evaluation Technical Specifications for Automobile Tires” has completed the establishment of industry standards and is currently formulating industry standards. In addition, the “Green Shoe Material Requirements for Limited Substances” formulated in 2017 was included in the list of 2018 group standard application demonstration projects of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and won the 2018 group standard application demonstration project excellent project.