Foreign Trade People'S "Three Difficult Business": Difficult To Receive Orders, Difficult To Collect Money, Difficult For Customers To Receive Goods.

In the late spring, foreign trade people are waiting for the spring that they have not yet arrived.
In Wenzhou, the boss of a foreign trade shoe company in order to supplement the cash flow and sell the Hangzhou house, it is estimated that it can hold for more than six months. In Shaoxing, the manager of the International Trade Department of a textile enterprise said that the orders were unmistakable with the British customers, and the order was gone after Prince Charles was found positive for the new crown pneumonia, and a foreign trade worker of a stainless steel company in Shanghai said there were A new joke: before the outbreak, we should consider the credit problem of customers, but after the outbreak of the epidemic, the customer company is still not a problem after delivery.
In 2019, China exported 17 trillion and 230 billion yuan a year. It is the world's largest exporter of trade. But in 2020, the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia was spreading all over the world, and many countries took measures such as blocking the border area and other epidemic prevention measures. China's foreign trade export orders were greatly reduced, and foreign trade enterprises are facing a crisis.
However, foreign trade workers are also doing their best to help themselves: on the one hand, open source encourages salesmen to expand the domestic market, on the other hand, they reduce expenditure and cut down production. They believe that after the storm, spring will come.
Wenzhou shoe enterprises boss: the Hangzhou house sold 4 million, can hold more than half a year.
Wenzhou, Zhejiang, is known as the "shoes capital of China". As of the end of 2019, there were more than 800 export enterprises and 8.21 pairs of exports.
Under the epidemic situation in 2020, Wenzhou shoe enterprises face enormous difficulties. In particular, with the spread of the epidemic in the world, foreign trade export enterprises' steep decline in orders, and a number of small and medium-sized enterprises are facing a survival crisis.
Liu Jianye is the boss of a shoe manufacturer in Wenzhou and has been in shoe factory for ten years in Wenzhou. In April 2nd, he told reporters in the daily economic news that 2020 is the most difficult year. There will be a number of enterprises that will not be able to endure.
For this reason, Liu Jianye has sold a house in Hangzhou to maintain the normal operation of the company. He said that only by surviving, can we wait for spring blossoms.
Liu Jianye, owner of Wenzhou's export trade shoe enterprise, said:
I am from Shangrao, Jiangxi. In 2020, I was a shoe factory in Wenzhou for tenth years. Ten years of hard work, now I rent a workshop in the three phase of Wenzhou shoe market, with an area of more than 1000 square meters, with nearly one hundred employees. The factory has a production line, mainly producing women's shoes, producing about four hundred thousand pairs of shoes each year, mainly exported to South Africa.
Before I went to Wenzhou to open a shoe factory, I worked in Hangzhou for five years, and my clients were mainly in Africa. At that time, it was purely trade, relatively light assets, only in the middle link to earn some difference. When I had customer resources and export channels on hand, I began to enter the manufacturing end.
After nearly half a year's market research, in 2011, I came to Wenzhou with 2 million yuan earned in Hangzhou, rented factories, bought equipment and recruited workers, and began to enter the field of shoemaking. In the first three years, there have been many frustrations. If we are careless, factories may be in danger of shutting down.
After 2014, the development of the company was relatively smooth, and the annual profit of about one million yuan was achieved. I became a home in Wenzhou and bought a house. In 2018, because I had deep feelings for Hangzhou, and I still thought that one day, I might develop my career to Hangzhou, so I bought another suite in Hangzhou.
Looking back now, when I open a shoe factory in Wenzhou, it is the best time for the development of shoes industry in Wenzhou. The area of the three phase of shoes is constantly expanding, and one factory building is built. Here, it is easier to invest and build factories than anywhere else, and relatively low input. Most small shoe factories are rented. Some rent two floors, others rent one floor, depending on their needs. All raw materials can be purchased locally, and the combined cost is the lowest.
There are more people coming to work in Wenzhou, and hiring is relatively easy. Many factories are staffed by relatives or townships. There are many workers in our factory who are from Jiangxi. They come from Shangrao and from Fuzhou. They come to work in my factory and have faith in their fellow townsman.
There are many employees in my factory who work here from my factory. There are several couple workers who work together and marry. Looking at their smiling faces, what I think is that I and them are not just employment relations, but also brothers and sisters. I hope my shoe factory can keep on driving them to retirement.
No one could have imagined that the crisis was so sudden.
In January 18, 2020, our factory finished the last day of the Spring Festival holiday. In fact, this is already relatively late in Wenzhou. I told the staff that this year's order task is very intense, and the Spring Festival holiday is half a month. In February 3rd, we will go to work formally.
During the Spring Festival, the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia outbreak was one of the most serious cities in the country except Wenzhou, and it was also one of the cities with the most time to return to work in Hubei. Throughout February, all our employees were on holiday. At this time, foreign businessmen constantly urged us to ask when we could resume production, but I could not reply to each other.
In March 3rd, employees began to return to factories again, resumed work and resumed production. One of my clients sent someone to Wenzhou and urged us to work overtime to complete the order.
But one day, the customer sent the staff back. At this time, the epidemic situation began to become more and more serious abroad. Nearly 100 countries around the world began to implement various kinds of control. The countries with serious epidemics even implemented a policy of blocking the border area. Nearly half a year's orders I received were almost cancelled.
A group of more than 10 thousand pairs of shoes produced in March are ready to be distributed to customers, but customers do not want to pay them. The other told me that these shoes could not be sold even if they received them. Now people's travel has begun to be restricted, and default is the least loss option.
Of course, this is just a defaulting order. Now I still have a few orders in my hand, but I am in a dilemma now. There are some orders. I wonder if it is necessary to carry out production normally. I am afraid that if the epidemic situation in Africa is beyond control, my customers would rather breach the contract than the shoes.
Some friends and relatives came to me after knowing my situation and said they would like to buy some shoes for me to digest some stock for me. But they do not know that the shoes sold abroad are much different from domestic shoes, whether from the technological design or from the size, and those shoes can not be sold in China.
Affected by the epidemic, some foreign customers themselves also have problems. The biggest problem I am facing now is that part of the money can not be collected, and there are still a lot of shoes in the warehouse, which is equivalent to breaking the capital flow for an enterprise. And I have to pay the wages of employees and suppliers.
Since late March, I couldn't sleep all night. I have to consider a question. What should I do now? How can we persist in sticking to our teeth? Or give up the current business, dissolve workers, sell machines, and stop in time?
I will be 40 when the Spring Festival is over in 2020. At this age I should have been puzzled, I encountered the biggest confusion in my life. I also have friends from shoe factories, and I will talk to them to see if they have any better way.
I have a friend who exports to Croatia. There are more than 80 workers in his factory, and all the orders are gone. He has shut down the factory. He said that the expenditure of six or seven hundred thousand dollars a month could not sustain without sales. It is not easy to sell domestically, which is equivalent to starting all over again. Besides, the domestic shoe companies are also having great difficulties.
In communication with friends, I understand that the difficulty now is that everyone is difficult. Only at this time can we survive and wait until the end of the epidemic.
I decided that I should survive any more. The first is to control costs and reduce expenditure. I let my staff take a day off from the original month, and now have a two-week break, so the staff salaries are reduced accordingly. But the employees who stay behind will not be ungrateful to their factories until the benefits are better in the future. The second is to strengthen the research and development of shoes suitable for domestic sales, and encourage employees to use their respective channels to promote sales and staff to sell shoes.
This is my own factory. Now the funds in the factory have encountered enormous difficulties. After consulting with my family, I decided to sell the Hangzhou house, which could raise about four million yuan and support our factory for more than half a year.
Under the epidemic situation, this is the difficulty of all enterprises, and is also the biggest difficulty that I have encountered since I opened the factory. It is not so easy to go through the past, nor is it to sell the goods by opening a shop or producing live goods. After all, people like Lao Luo and Li Jiaqi are rare in the whole country.
So I decided to sell my house, which is also my investment asset. Now I put this part of my assets in my business because I want to survive in this field. And I believe that enterprises that can tide over difficulties will welcome spring blossoms.
Shaoxing textile foreign trade manager: after Prince Charles's diagnosis, a good British customer cancelled the order directly.
According to the data of Shaoxing Keqiao Business Bureau, as of the end of 2019, there were 4656 foreign trade enterprises in Keqiao, 89.3% of them mainly engaged in textile fabrics, and 2000 of them had an annual output value of less than 500 thousand dollars.
The outbreak of the new crown pneumonia is spreading all over the world, and the withdrawal of single tide and order shortage followed. As the distributor center of the world's textile fabrics, Keqiao's China Light Textile City's foreign trade merchants have become a direct "victim".
The manager of the Department of international trade of a textile enterprise in Keqiao, Shaoxing:
I have been engaged in textile and foreign trade for nearly thirty years, and now I have been working for this company for nearly twenty years. Although the foreign trade situation has fluctuated greatly, it has to be said that the whole industry crisis like this is the first time.
Our company is a large number of printing and dyeing enterprises in Keqiao. It is also ranked the top in the national dyeing and printing enterprises. Its annual revenue is more than 800 million yuan, with more than 1000 employees.
Printing and dyeing is in the middle part of the textile fabric industry chain, the upstream is the grey cloth production enterprise, and the downstream is the clothing enterprise. On the one hand, we are self-supporting foreign trade in textile fabrics, and on the other hand, we undertake a lot of production and processing.
Due to the demand for upgrading printing and dyeing industry, since 2018, our printing and dyeing board has directly shut down the old factories, and built a new factory in the designated gathering area. The construction period has been nearly one year, and the investment has exceeded 500 million yuan, and it has not been tested for 5 months until November 2019. Originally confident enough to accelerate production, but the crisis caused by the epidemic can be said again and again, and three hit us.
In 2019, our self operated foreign trade volume reached US $28 million, setting a new high. In 2020 1~3, our self export volume was US $2 million 720 thousand, US $3 million 640 thousand and US $200 thousand respectively. Moreover, according to the estimated quantity of orders in hand, we will not earn more than March in the next three months.
In fact, the foreign trade growth of the whole textile city in 2019 is optimistic, and the situation is also gratifying from our order volume. In the first two months of 2020, the export grew by a ring. On the one hand, it was in the spring tide of foreign orders. On the other hand, it also benefited from the perfection of our own raw materials. It can be said that after the outbreak of the new crown outbreak in China, we are still relatively calm, production has not stopped, the previous orders are also adequate. In February, we urgently resumed printing and dyeing production. We also recovered 70% of our capacity by rickshaw from the field.
But after March, epidemics spread abroad, and almost all of the countries changed day by day. From the European countries such as Italy and Spain, the United States also took the lead in a large number of closes, and orders for fabrics had been lifted in large areas. It can be said that in the middle of 3, orders in Europe and America almost stagnate.
I remember very clearly that before Prince Charles was found positive in England, I repeated the order production with British customers in the mail, and the other side also confirmed that it would not be cancelled. Results second days later, when Prince Charles was found positive for the new crown virus, the other side directly told him that because of the upgrades of the British epidemic prevention measures, the company needed to close all the stores and production factories, and all the employees would be quarantined in their homes. Even if the products were shipped unattended and produced, the order had to be cancelled.
Similar experiences are very common among foreign trade merchants who mainly export to European and American markets. Many customers, even though they have already paid 25% of the deposit, still want to suspend the transaction. For example, among our major customers in Spain, we have the world-famous fast selling brand ZARA, and now they have temporarily closed more than 3000 stores.
Fortunately, the manufacturers have confirmed that the order has been cancelled before they are ready for mass production. So far, we are doing well, but we also have $23 million worth of backlog. Because of the particularity of fabric products, many businesses are exclusive orders, once the season, even if these stocks can be processed, the rate of impairment is more than 70%.
We know that a textile fabric enterprise that was originally a Keqiao export champion for many years, because the largest export market in the United States has been completed before the order is temporarily revoked, the cancellation of large quantities of orders directly affects the normal operation of the enterprise. For the time being, it is not clear whether it has been shut down, but the company's stock backlog seriously leads to difficulties in capital flow.
The subsequent blow came from the African market. Apart from Europe and the United States, men's clothing exports in Togo, Benin, Nigeria and other African markets also accounted for a large share. After the problems in the European market, we can barely maintain the normal operation of the African market, but foreign exchange control has led to serious obstruction.
After the spread of the global epidemic, African countries are now implementing a policy to prevent foreign exchange crises because of their small foreign exchange reserves, and the foreign exchange outflow of each transaction is not more than 10 thousand dollars. And when we export to Africa, the value of a container is more than one hundred thousand dollars. The goods were unable to recover cash, and such businesses were afraid to do so, so African orders had to be cancelled.
In fact, the biggest trouble for our foreign trade enterprises is not that they have no orders, but that they are afraid to take orders. Now, the epidemic is changing day by day. For example, part of the sea freight is still unimpeded, and the latest news is that some cargo ships found that the crew members had positive new crown virus. If such a phenomenon spreads, then even if there is still demand for foreign trade exports, logistics can not be transported, and the finished products will become a stock in the hands, but will increase the burden on the enterprises.
At present, our printing and dyeing factory specializing in foreign trade production lines has been in a semi shutdown state, and the domestic sales sector has only one breath left, and the capital flow has dried up. The latest management decided that the subsequent downtime and layoffs will be implemented one after another. The best employees will pay 1800 yuan minimum standard monthly salary, while some employees can only lay off laid-off workers.
The most important thing for our foreign trade manager to do is to connect with our customers. Instead of placing orders, we sell customers masks every day. We chat with customers every day, pay attention to each other's situation, talk about life and deepen communication.
As a matter of fact, the textile fabric industry is more common with the characteristics of fixed sales, and simple foreign trade enterprises can hardly ignore the cost even if the orders are not formally produced. Now more likely to be dormant waiting for warming up, and enterprises like ours that currently give consideration to production will also have more and more financial pressure. Industry shuffle is hard to avoid.
Now, for us, the good news is that the customer has not lost, or even because of in-depth exchanges, the relationship between the two sides is stronger. Some of the original market share may be withdrawn because of enterprises, so we can fight for it. With the global epidemic spreading leading to the stagnation of demand side, China's timely control of the epidemic makes our production terminals ready at any time. Once demand rebounds, we believe that our supply chain is the fastest and the cost of all kinds of raw materials is also decreasing. For enterprises, it is very important to seize the right time.
But the difficulty lies in the fact that no one can know exactly when the epidemic will pass and whether the demand side can recover quickly. In view of this situation, we encourage the salesmen to increase the market development of the domestic sales business, and on the other hand, we need to cut down expenses and stop production and reduce production.
Shanghai stainless steel company's foreign trade member: after delivery, the customer is still in question.
Shanghai is an important export center in China. The development of overseas epidemic has brought a great impact on the income of many ordinary foreign trade workers.
Xiao Wang is a foreign trade worker in Shanghai who is engaged in stainless steel export business. He told reporters that by the impact of overseas epidemic, Alibaba international station, the number of enquiries declined by 50%, especially in Europe and the United States, the decline is very obvious. But businesses are still struggling.
Xiao Wang, a foreign trade member of a stainless steel company in Shanghai, describes herself as follows:
I have been a foreign trade worker for four or five years. Personally, there is no industry more difficult than foreign trade.
It is difficult for customers to receive goods, and it is difficult for them to receive money. Our foreign trade staff are basic salary plus royalty, basically, there is no royalty income. But now the epidemic situation in Europe and the United States is so serious that the difficulties in developing the market and the demand of old customers have also declined or delayed.
Some time ago, several major customers of the company had problems in receiving and paying the bills. The boss was in a terrible state, and even he was borrowing money from his relatives.
We are engaged in stainless steel business. This industry is closely related to the price trend of nickel metal. Now nickel prices are falling steadily. Many old customers are waiting for the opportunity.
Especially before the festival, nickel prices hit a new low, many foreign trade companies have hoarding a large quantity of goods. Unexpectedly, demand after the outbreak was less, nickel prices further reduced, and the prices of company products also declined. For example, 304 stainless steel, the base price was 13 thousand and 600 / ton a year ago, now it is about 11 thousand and 800 / ton, and 1000 tons difference is 1 million 800 thousand yuan. Besides, we have more than 1000 tons.
Foreign trade companies mainly use Alibaba international station and participate in various exhibitions. Although the exhibition will not be directly traded, but it can expand the company's popularity and customer trust. Now that the epidemic is affected, the exhibition has basically stopped. Customers' enquiries at Alibaba international station are still, much less than before. Especially in Europe and the United States, the decline is obvious.
After enquiry, the company will automatically assign the foreign trade personnel. There are fewer customers in Europe and the United States. Now the main enquiries are some African and India customers. But we are also afraid of meeting fraudsters and we need to screen our own judgement. Compared with European and American customers, India customers are basically "low in money" and always ask for the lowest price, even if the profit is not high.
In addition to the resources allocated by the company, we will also search our customers in Google, camps and other platforms. American companies are more open to information and can usually find contact information. In other areas, it's harder to find contacts.
In short, expanding new customers is extremely difficult during the epidemic. If there is no old customer resources, do not dare to imagine how to open the bill. The core of the present work is to maintain good old customers. For example, when we send samples to old customers, we will send a mask and other epidemic prevention products.
Even so, the demand of the old customers is only 30%. Normally, $100 thousand will be ordered, and $30 thousand will be ordered. In order to urge the old customers to place the order, the mail is urged, the overseas telephone calls, the telephone exchange ends, the unclear place is confirmed by the mail again, "hasten the order, now is the lowest price, so we do not have the price when we sell domestically."
But demand is falling and customers are also having difficulty. Under the epidemic, Europeans and North Americans are all at home, and consumption and production are all problems.
Now that the epidemic is spreading abroad, even if the bill is opened, it is also feared that customers will not be able to accept it.
A few days ago, a Russian customer who had just paid his goods arrived at the port in early February, but he never received the goods. The ship stops at the port, and the daily storage fee is no small expense. There is no way to do it. It has been urging for many times, and customer capital is not working. Otherwise, why do you pay more than that? It was not until the end of March that the shipping company had to return the shipment, so the Russian customers settled the money. Fortunately, sooner or later, or Russia will start off at the end of March, when the amount of money will be delayed until it can not be estimated.
Therefore, our foreign trade workers sometimes joke with each other that we should consider the credit problem of customers before the outbreak. After the outbreak of the epidemic, credit problems are secondary. After the delivery, the customer company is still a problem. The epidemic situation is so serious abroad that many factors can not be controlled by customers themselves.
A few days ago, a customer had the intention to place an order. However, the customer's stainless steel coil size is not large, and its strength does not seem to be strong. And the company asked us to pay the deposit now, before the delivery of the final payment, to the small number of small customers still need to increase profits. The conditions are more stringent. Can the customers agree?
Maybe company bosses have their own difficulties. Since March, we have encountered various customers' refusal to pay, destroy orders and not take delivery. A few big clients were having problems, and the boss was badly battered. Stainless steel industry, products are state-owned factories, the company is only responsible for overseas sales, once the customer destroyed the list, then the loss is great. Yesterday, some customers said they wanted to cancel the order, but there was no production.
In my opinion, our boss still has some capital strength, but many of his colleagues are afraid that they will be on the verge of bankruptcy. Now the new bill is hard to make, and this year's revenue is bound to shrink dramatically. At present, the core is to keep the old customers.
Reporter's note: they choose to do everything possible to survive.
In the three stage industrial park of Wenzhou shoe city, the office of the general manager of a foreign trade export shoe enterprise, the boss smoked cigarettes in one hand and knocked on the table with a pen in one hand. He reluctantly squeezed a smile, saying that the order was gone, and he was generally in a predicament. He also felt confused.
Another boss said that 1/4 of the enterprises could be dropped in the epidemic. In fact, many foreign trade enterprises have been laying off workers, or even directly shutting down factories, handling machines and dismissing employees.
However, in the course of the interview, we saw both enterprises with layoffs and shutting down, and saw many enterprises borrowing or selling property to help themselves.
In the face of difficulties, more enterprises choose to stick to it and choose to do everything possible to survive, so that employees can survive and rely on the society.
An ordinary foreign trade salesman told reporters that in the morning, he had just sent hundreds of masks to his big clients. "They are old customers who have been in the past few years or even decades. When we are in trouble, they also understand that they are tolerant of time and again. Now the epidemic is spreading. It's time to warm up.
The operators of Keqiao Textile City are not idle. Foreign trade is difficult. Look at the domestic market. If there are fewer people in the market, try the live webcast. Others will do more research and development. Ask about the price of raw materials, store some goods, change the production line conditionally, and increase the order of masks. For these professional markets coming from "roadside stalls", it is not the same thing to face difficulties, but it is not the end of the road.