It has been nearly half a year since the "Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership" (RCEP) came into effect at the beginning of this year. However, many textile and garment enterprises have not yet fully utilized the dividends brought by the policy during the implementation process.
Establish an efficient industrial collaboration system
The most important purpose of reaching a free trade agreement is to obtain as many zero tariffs and market openings as possible, thereby forming a unified large market. According to customs statistics, in 2021, the total import and export trade of textiles and clothing between China and other RCEP member countries will be 98.76 billion US dollars, accounting for 28.7% of the industry's foreign trade. RCEP will further promote the division of labor and cooperation between my country and ASEAN in the textile industry. The reporter learned from the RCEP series of special training sessions held recently by the Ministry of Commerce that in 2021, my country's textile and apparel exports to RCEP member countries will be 87.04 billion US dollars, accounting for 28% of my country's textile industry's global exports; imports are 11.72 billion US dollars , accounting for about 42% of my country's total imports from the world. ASEAN is my country's largest export market for chemical fibers, textile yarns and textile fabrics, of which Vietnam accounts for the largest share. In 2021, my country's exports of textile yarns to ASEAN will be 2.61 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 31.7%, and the export of textile fabrics will be 22.32 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 27.6%. In 2021, my country's clothing imports from ASEAN will be 3.63 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 15.8%. Among them, clothing imported from Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand increased by about 20% year-on-year. The RCEP agreement makes my country's textile industry more closely linked with the textile industry in East Asia and Southeast Asia, and the flow of investment, resources and technology in the region is further accelerated. For example, in terms of the transnational layout of productivity, Shenzhou International Group, one of the world's largest knitting manufacturers, has formed an international development pattern system, headquartered in Ningbo, and has formed a complete vertically integrated industrial base along the "Belt and Road". There are fabric or garment factories in Anqing, Anhui, Quzhou, Zhejiang, Phnom Penh, Cambodia and Vietnam, and sales offices or representative offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Osaka, Japan. In the past two years, the Group has continued to build production capacity in Southeast Asia. At present, Vietnam and Cambodia's garment production capacity accounts for nearly 40% of the Group's.
For another example, Texhong Group, the world's leading manufacturer of high value-added core-spun textile products, has 2.51 million spindles and 1.59 million spindles in China and overseas (mainly Vietnam). North America, Europe, Brazil, Turkey, Bangladesh, Japan and Korea. RCEP reduces trade and investment barriers and creates a unified large market, which is conducive to the optimal allocation of resources for Chinese textile and garment enterprises in the region and better internationalization.
Make good use of the rules of origin accumulation
RCEP member countries not only include China, ASEAN, Japan, South Korea and other important textile and apparel production bases in the world, but also cover many important textile and apparel consumer markets in the world, making full use of the rules for my country, actively participating in regional industrial cooperation, and building high efficiency in the region. The synergistic, mutually beneficial and win-win textile and garment industry chain has added support. For enterprises, the accumulation rule of origin is the biggest highlight of RCEP, and it is also most beneficial to small and medium-sized enterprises engaged in import and export trade. Chen Ning, a first-level inspector of the Department of International Economic and Trade Relations of the Ministry of Commerce, said that enterprises should fully understand the commercial value of the rules of accumulation of origin, conduct in-depth research on the rules of accumulation of origin, actively expand the production scale of intermediate products, and attract more competitive investors to develop Cooperation to push enterprise production and services to the high end of the value chain. Liu Yaozhong, deputy director of the International Trade Office of China National Textile and Apparel Council, believes that RCEP adopts regional cumulative rules of origin, which will not only help my country expand the export of textile intermediates such as yarns and fabrics to RCEP members such as ASEAN, but also strengthen my country's supply chain to the textile and garment industry chain. It also helps my country's textile enterprises to actively integrate regional high-quality resources, establish an effective production capacity cooperation system, and better promote the formation of a global textile and garment industry manufacturing base and consumption center with my country as the core. In recent years, the pace of foreign investment in my country's textile industry has accelerated, especially the awareness of key enterprises to take the initiative to carry out international layout has been continuously enhanced. Among the member countries of RCEP, Vietnam, Singapore, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, etc. are all destinations for foreign investment in my country's textile industry. RCEP further relaxes the market access conditions for goods, services, investment and other fields among member countries, and promotes the integration and unification of customs procedures and technical standards in various countries. It will promote the free flow of economic factors in the region, strengthen the division of production and cooperation among members, and stimulate the expansion of the consumer market in the region. Upgrading enables faster development of the industrial chain, supply chain and value chain in the region. Chen Ning said that enterprises need to strengthen the training of professionals who master the rules of origin and are familiar with various businesses such as certificate application, self-declaration, and approved exporter certification. Liu Yaozhong believes that it is necessary for textile enterprises to strengthen study and research and make good use of the accumulation rules of the origin region. He suggested that for the products in the RCEP tariff concession table, the certificate of origin should be actively applied for and timely enjoy the preferential tariff and customs clearance convenience. Textile enterprises should also be familiar with the procedures and procedures for certificates of origin, apply for and use electronic certificates of origin, and facilitate cross-border exchange and information sharing of electronic data related to the origin of exported goods. In particular, small and medium-sized textile enterprises should make full use of the regional rules of origin accumulation, better integrate into the regional supply chain and industrial chain, and enhance the international competitiveness of their products.
Increase technology research and development and standard construction
A very important part of RCEP is to promote the cooperation and transformation of international standards, and to enhance the role of standards in promoting industrial development. Yuan Bo, deputy director of the Institute of Asian Studies of the Ministry of Commerce, believes that RCEP will have a comprehensive effect, especially the introduction of higher standards in the fields of competition policy, intellectual property rights and transparency, which can introduce more adequate competition, thereby promoting countries to speed up Reform, and further improve the protection level of intellectual property rights, reduce the uncertainty of business operations. For enterprises investing in the region, they can also have a better environment for institutional cooperation, thereby promoting the high-quality development of each other's trade and investment cooperation. Liu Yaozhong proposed that textile and garment enterprises should increase technology research and development and investment, make up for shortcomings, break through bottlenecks, and take advantage of the time window for the gradual tax reduction of some products to speed up the transformation and upgrading of enterprises and improve the technical level. For example, Japan has a monopoly technological advantage in the field of some high-performance fiber materials, and my country has a shortcoming of independent technology. It is necessary to actively prevent and resolve the impact of tax reductions on Japanese chemical fiber and textile machinery products. After RCEP comes into effect, import tariffs on special fibers, some industrial textiles, and textile products such as shuttleless air-jet looms and flat weft knitting machines will be reduced to zero.
