德语
my country is a world-class mold manufacturing country, among which the total output of die-casting molds ranks second in the world. At present, my country's labor costs are still relatively low, and the development cycle of die-casting molds has been shortened, and the equipment, design and manufacturing levels have been significantly improved. Domestic die-casting molds have extremely high cost-effectiveness worldwide. In recent years, the rapid development of Southeast Asian automobile industry and the rapid update of products will inevitably drive the region's demand for the production and import of die-casting molds. With the relatively saturated domestic market space, some companies have begun to look at overseas markets, especially Southeast Asian countries with similar geographical locations to my country, low access and support from the "Belt and Road" policy.
1. Current status of China's mold industry
In the mid-1990s, Japan's mold production accounted for nearly 60% of the total in Asia and 43% of the global total. As Japan's manufacturing industry moved to Southeast Asia (starting about 1993), the Japanese mold industry gradually shrank due to the collapse of domestic industrial clusters, and mold output began to decline in 1997. By 2006, mold output fell to 410 billion yen, a decrease of 78% compared with 1998. With the price advantage, China and South Korea's mold exports to Japan began to increase. To avoid price competition, Japanese companies have to turn their focus to high-end molds.
In the 30 years from 1986 to 2016, China's mold industry achieved leapfrog growth, with a total output value of 220 billion yuan, an increase of 37 times, and has become a world's mold manufacturing country. China's mold manufacturing capacity not only basically meets the domestic manufacturing industry's requirements for the quantity, variety and quality of molds, but also has the capacity to export batches of all mold varieties. It has also become the third largest mold importer in Germany, known for its advanced manufacturing technology and high-end precision products.
In 2010, my country's mold import and export showed a trade surplus for the first time, and in 2018, the total export volume reached nearly US$6.1 billion (approximately RMB 41.8 billion), an increase of 10.84% year-on-year. Of these, 42.4% were exported to the United States, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan and Mexico.
At the beginning of the 21st century, my country's mold industry had basically transitioned from product competition to a stage dominated by brand competition. There is an oversupply of medium and low-end molds, while the self-sufficiency rate of large, precise, complex and long-life molds with high-tech content (about 60%) is still low, and the rest still relies on imports. By 2020, the proportion of medium and high-end molds in the total domestic mold volume will reach 60%, about 150 billion yuan. In view of the above points, some powerful mold manufacturers have begun to expand the mid-to-high-end mold market.
Small and medium-sized enterprises in my country, which mainly produce medium and low-end molds, are also constantly improving their innovation capabilities and competitiveness, and actively exploring international emerging markets to achieve capacity transfer. As global manufacturing shifts to Southeast Asia, the mold industry, as the "mother of industry", will usher in a significant growth in the region. According to customs statistics, since 2009, Vietnam has ranked among the top 10 mold export destinations in China. In 2010, Thailand also became one of the top 10 destinations for China's mold exports, and has always remained at around 7th since then.
2. Downstream demand of Southeast Asian mold industry
(1) The automobile industry is booming and the sales market potential is huge
In the past 10 years, ASEAN's automobile industry has developed rapidly, and automobile production in major automobile manufacturers has increased rapidly. According to statistics released by the ASEAN Automobile Alliance, in 2018, the major Southeast Asian automobile manufacturers produced a total of 4.369 million cars, an increase of 8% year-on-year. The good development trend of the Southeast Asian automobile market has attracted many world-renowned automobile brands to come here to choose places to build factories, and has caused the gathering of supporting industries such as accessories and after-sales.
With the 600 million population dividend and steady GDP growth, Southeast Asian residents' consumption capacity has significantly improved, and the automobile sales market has huge potential. International research institute Frost & Sullivan is optimistic about the explosive power of Southeast Asian countries' automobile industry. It is estimated that the region's automobile production will reach 4.96 million vehicles in 2022, of which Thailand maintains its position as the largest automobile producer, with production of 2.347 million vehicles, Indonesia 1.47 million vehicles and Malaysia 746,000 vehicles; car sales reach 4.65 million vehicles, becoming the eighth largest automobile sales market in the world.
(2) Electronics and electrical appliances are important industries that drive economic development
Electronics and electrical appliances are one of the important industries that drive national economic development in many Southeast Asian countries. Thailand is the world's second largest air conditioner production base and the second largest manufacturer and exporter of hard disks, and electronics and electrical appliances have also become the second largest field of mold application in Thailand.
Malaysia's electronic and electrical appliance industry is very developed and is one of the main categories of exports and attracting investment in the country. It is estimated that in 2019, the approved investment in Malaysia's electronic and electrical appliance sector will reach 13 billion yen, achieving a year-on-year growth of 16%. As a traditional Singaporean industry, the output value of the electronics industry in 2017 accounted for 40.89% of the total output value of the manufacturing industry. Among them, Singapore's electronic components rank first among import and export commodities, with export volume accounting for 28.3%.
(3) Infrastructure investment has increased, and the government has made every effort to advance at full speed.
In recent years, in order to improve the business environment, improve global competitiveness and foreign investment attraction, Southeast Asian governments led by Thailand have taken frequent actions to significantly increase investment in rail transit such as subways and high-speed rail, as well as infrastructure such as aircraft manufacturing and aviation MRO (maintenance, maintenance, maintenance, maintenance) and other infrastructure.
In terms of rail transit, between 2015 and 2022, it is estimated that Thailand's transportation infrastructure will invest nearly US$80 billion. The Thai government recently expressed its confidence in building a MRT network that gathers 14 routes in Bangkok and surpasses Tokyo, Japan in the next 10 years. The Jakarta-Bandung High-speed Railway, China-Laos Railway and China-Thailand Railway projects, which are under construction by China, are being carried out in an orderly manner. With the steady implementation of the "Belt and Road" initiative, more Chinese-funded enterprises will participate in large-scale infrastructure construction projects such as ASEAN railway in the future.
In terms of aviation manufacturing, Thailand is expected to invest a total of US$10.6 billion in the commercial aircraft MRO industry between 2015 and 2024. Among them, the estimated expenditure of five components, including wheels and brakes, APU, IFE components, oil and control devices, and landing gear, is expected to reach US$1.7 billion. In 2018, Malaysia's total exports of aerospace and accessories reached US$2.11 billion, a year-on-year increase of 7%. It is expected that Malaysian aviation manufacturing and MRO businesses will generate revenue of 21.2 billion rumbling and 20.4 billion rumbling respectively in 2030.
3. Overview of the mold industry in Thailand and Vietnam and encouragement policies
The booming development of Southeast Asia's automobile industry, the important position of electronics and electrical appliances, and the strong promotion of infrastructure project construction by various countries all rely on the mold industry to provide solid support.
(1) Thailand mold industry.
According to a survey by the Thai Mold Industry Association (TDIA), there were about 1,061 mold factories in Thailand in 2013, of which 90% produced plastic and metal molds, and 10% produced plastic, glass and ceramic molds. Molds for stamping, continuous casting, and forging are the most common types of local metal molds. According to data from the Thailand Investment Promotion Bureau, Thai car body molds have basically been locally manufactured. Local mold manufacturers can also meet the needs of downstream industries, but the Thailand Investment Promotion Bureau stated that high-end molds are still dependent on imports, and die-casting molds, injection molds, transfer stamping molds, stamping/punching mold accessories, injection mold accessories, and die-casting mold accessories are still in short supply.
In Thailand, die-casting molds are mainly used to produce automotive engine cylinder blocks, crankshafts, front shells, oil discs, gear boxes, automobile safety accessories, etc. The Thailand Investment Promotion Committee predicts that with the development of the automobile industry, the development space and opportunities of die-casting molds will be particularly obvious. At the same time, the Thai government pays more attention to energy conservation and environmental protection and will completely ban the import of second-hand private cars from December 10, 2019, and the requirements for lightweight cars are getting higher and higher, further creating greater development space for the application of die castings.
In order to promote the development of Thailand's domestic mold industry and thus provide strong support for downstream manufacturing, the Thai government has successively implemented the "Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Mold Industry from 2005 to 2009", the "Five-Year Plan for the Strengthening of the Mold Industry Competitiveness" and the "2016 to 2020 Mold Industry Sustainable Development Plan", aiming to effectively reduce the dependence of the domestic mold industry on imports, achieve export volume growth, and form an industrial cluster.
Among the many mold types, stamping molds, die-casting molds and other molds (including rubber molds, forging molds, glass molds, extrusion molds, etc.) are all mold types vigorously promoted by the Thai Investment Promotion Agency. In order to encourage foreign investment, the Thailand Investment Promotion Authority has implemented tax measures such as exemptions on import duties on machinery and raw materials, and exemptions on corporate income tax for up to eight years, as well as non-tax measures such as allowing the introduction of expatriate employees, holding land, and reducing foreign exchange controls. In addition, the Thai government does not impose export, local content, foreign equity, etc. requirements on investors.
(2) Vietnam mold industry.
Although Vietnam's automobile market has huge potential, its industrial foundation is poor, with low mold output and high production costs. According to the China-Vietnam Casting Technology Exchange Seminar held by the Foundry Branch of the Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society in April 2019 and the post-meeting interviews, most Vietnamese companies do not have high requirements for molds and are very interested in Chinese mid- to low-end molds. According to customs statistics, Vietnam's import volume of molds has been decreasing year by year since 2016, but the import volume of other metal or carbide molds other than injection molding and compression molding has been soaring, with the import value increasing by 300%.
4. Suggestions on developing the Southeast Asian mold market
The trade conflict between China and the United States has lasted for more than a year. The increase in tariffs by the United States has blocked the exports of some domestic companies and increased cost pressure. It is urgent to adjust trade flows. The mold industry in Southeast Asia started late and has not been able to catch up with the development pace of downstream industries such as automobiles. The gap between supply and demand still exists. Whether it is a manufacturer that focuses on mid- to low-end products and needs to transfer production capacity, or a company that focuses on high-end molds, the potential business opportunities contained in Southeast Asia cannot be ignored.
Overseas market development channels can be divided into two methods: online and offline. According to the local market share in Southeast Asia, online platforms mainly include Google search engine, Facebook and LinkedIn social media.
(1) Google search engine.
In 2018, the Google search engine's share of the search engine market in Southeast Asia such as Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines was as high as 98.71%, 93.73%, 97.96%, 97.44%, 97.07%, and 95.99% respectively. It is one of the publicity and customer development channels that companies must consider when exploring Southeast Asia.
The general method of developing overseas customers through Google is as follows: First, enter "keyword + country" in the search box, such as Mold&DieThailand, screen and organize the contact information of target customers, and contact them one by one; second, use a combination of SEO website optimization + Google Adwords promotion to facilitate foreign customers when they search for keywords on Google. The search engine will prioritize the company's website information and put it on the top to increase the website's click-through rate and thereby obtain the order conversion rate.
(2) Facebook/LinkedIn social platform.
With the popularity of smartphones, more and more Southeast Asian customers are beginning to use social platforms to obtain information. Judging from the market share of social platforms in major Southeast Asian countries in 2018, Facebook still occupies an absolute dominant position. LinkedIn's main user group is professionals, and overseas customer mining is more accurate and effective.
Regardless of whether you use Facebook or LinkedIn for promotion, you need to pay attention to: after establishing the company's homepage, you should keep the status updated to attract attention; use tags flexibly when publishing posts to increase the bounce rate; with a certain amount of promotion funds, you can use paid advertising to attract traffic and achieve the purpose of promoting the homepage/status in a short time to attract attention.
In addition to common methods, you should also make full use of the unique features of each of the two platforms: enter the appropriate Facebook group through keyword search, or create an industry or product-related group to increase the exposure of your posts and stay in touch with potential customers. Make full use of the LinkedIn search box filtering function to achieve precise searches for target customers, thereby obtaining effective contact information, and continuously accumulating a database of contacts and potential customers.
(3) High-quality professional exhibitions.
Online platforms require a lot of manpower and time to maintain. Account recharges are expensive and the results are slow. Relatively speaking, choosing a high-quality offline professional platform is more targeted, the effect is more direct, and it saves time and effort. In addition to the all-round services such as publicity and promotion, matching, and exhibitions provided by the platform itself, the state also encourages overseas exhibitions and exports and provides policy support. For example, in November 2016, the export tax rebate rate for die-casting molds and other products was increased by 4 percentage points. Small and medium-sized enterprises can apply for a certain proportion of overseas exhibition subsidies according to local policies. These have brought benefits to domestic mold companies going abroad.
The Asia and Pan-Pacific Metal Industry Exhibition (METALAP Asia Pacific Metal Exhibition for short) is the first professional exhibition in Southeast Asia with the theme of die-casting and casting. The exhibits cover die-casting and casting molds. The platform is based in Thailand and has targeted the Southeast Asian market. In addition to seeing the downstream demand in the region, it also comprehensively considers factors such as geographical proximity and low export costs.
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