Optimistic: Wire and cable industry continues to develop rapidly

In recent years, the construction of power grid has been accelerated and UHV projects have been put into construction, creating a huge market for the wire and cable industry. According to statistics, the average annual growth rate of the industry in the past 15 years has reached more than 15%. At present, it has become the second largest industry in China after the automobile industry.

China's position in the global counterparts is very important. The total output value of wire and cable has surpassed that of the United States, becoming the largest wire and cable producer in the world. From the perspective of the world pattern, Europe, Japan and the United States have already carried out strategic mergers and acquisitions and restructuring. Product series division of labor reorganization, the target market repositioning, the formation of large-scale or specialized production. It is characterized by high industrial concentration, and the total sales revenue of the top ten enterprises accounts for more than 2/3 of the market in their countries or regions. An obvious trend is that the focus of world wire and cable production continues to shift to Asia, driving the rapid development of industries in China, Vietnam, the Philippines and the Middle East.

On the whole, the industry has formed a huge production capacity through a large number of technology introduction, digestion and absorption, and independent research and development. With the supporting cable materials, cable equipment manufacturing industry has also initially formed a more complete supporting system. Large enterprises have obvious advantages in market competitiveness and strong profitability. Small and medium-sized enterprises have better asset operating capacity.

At present, the market-oriented operation mechanism of the industry has been significantly enhanced, and the private economy has developed rapidly, which has become the basic force of the industry's economic growth. In particular, the advantages of wire and cable manufacturing in the economically developed coastal areas are obvious, and the regional differences are further expanded. In terms of assets, the state-owned economy accounts for only 15 per cent, the three-capital enterprises account for nearly 25 per cent, and the private economy accounts for more than 60 per cent. In the wire and cable industry sales revenue of the top ten enterprises, the vast majority of private enterprises. East China has become the most important manufacturing area of the wire and cable industry, accounting for 50% of the country's assets and output value, forming 60% of sales, and winning 70% of the industry's profits.

Caution: several outstanding problems in the industry have not been fundamentally solved

In the rapid development of the industry, several outstanding problems become the fetters of progress.

First, with the changes in the external environment and the impact of market competition, the world's wire and cable industry has formed a pattern of monopoly by several giants; second, the price of copper, the main raw material, has risen sharply, resulting in tight money for wire and cable companies and slow capital turnover. Especially foreign special cable products into the Chinese market, but also intensified the fierce competition, some enterprises have been facing a crisis of survival.

It is understood that at present, China's small and medium-sized wire and cable enterprises have reached more than 7000. Due to the lack of research and development capabilities of these companies, most of them make a fuss about low-end products. There is a surplus of low-end products, and high-end products are in short supply. At present, there are about tens of thousands of enterprises in the cable industry, most of which are small in scale, the phenomenon of repeated investment in the industry is prominent, and the production capacity is surplus. For example, during the transformation of urban and rural power grids, many enterprises flocked to produce overhead conductors and cross-linked power cables; when they attached importance to the development of high and new technologies, many enterprises put into production of high-voltage cables and optical fiber cables; in recent years, many enterprises have invested in the production of automobile wires, especially foreign capital entering the domestic high-voltage cables, optical cables and special cables market, making competition more intense. The weak brand influence of the industry has caused disorderly competition in the wire and cable industry. Only more than 50 have the ability to win major national projects.

Product price has become a magic weapon for many small and medium-sized enterprises. As the wire and cable is a typical material heavy, light industry, the price of raw materials accounted for 70% to 80% of the total cost. Therefore, the quality of raw materials greatly affects the quality of wire and cable products. With the rising prices of copper and aluminum materials, coupled with rising energy and transportation costs, the cost of enterprises has further increased, and the gross profit margin of the industry has declined. As a result, some enterprises cut corners, or produce so-called "enterprise standard" products for different customers, so that strict production control according to mandatory national standards has become production according to the so-called "tailor-made" safety assurance enterprise standards. The reason why small businesses can provide ultra-low-cost products is nothing more than making a fuss about raw materials, and the quality of the products can be imagined. Increased quality risks and increased unfair competition.

Market standardization is not enough, local protection is still serious. As one of the main basic industries in China, wire and cable have not reached a certain height in terms of market regulation or government attention. From a national perspective, the current unified market has basically taken shape, but the invisible threshold between regions has not been broken, and local protectionism is still serious. Some local governments require the use of local products, and some regulatory authorities only check foreign enterprises, not local enterprises. These acts are called inspection according to law, but they are actually closed protection, which leads to the failure of products to circulate in accordance with the laws of the market and hinders the unified and standardized development of the market.

Price discourse power is weak, the market order is chaotic. Most of the customers in the cable industry are large-scale national projects or state monopoly industries, such as electricity, communications, railways, etc. Cable companies cannot have a fair dialogue with a strong buyer's market. Some enterprises not only can not receive the advance payment, but also to pay the customer warranty. At present, the bidding mechanism is very chaotic, and most of them adopt the standard of "lowest price", which makes the product quality not guaranteed.

Basic research and applied research is not enough attention, lack of core competitiveness. Although the "use of doctrine" so that wire and cable enterprises have a number of better equipment, but did not really form the core competitiveness. The technological innovation consciousness and system construction with enterprises as the main body lag behind the pace of economic development, so that the field of wire and cable lacks independent intellectual property rights, and key technologies are often controlled by others, which seriously restricts the development of high-end technology and high-end products. According to statistics, at present, only 30% of China's cable varieties have reached the level acceptable to the international market and can participate in competition.

Outlook: cable industry development prospects continue to be good

Wire and cable is an important industry in the national economic construction. After 50 years of construction, especially the rapid development of 20 years of reform and opening up, the product variety satisfaction rate has reached more than 95%, and the domestic market satisfaction rate has reached more than 90%. Experts predict that due to the country's emphasis on infrastructure construction, such as the development of the information superhighway, the take-off of the communications industry, the upgrading of electrical equipment and the requirements of energy saving, etc., will continue to put forward new requirements for the variety and level of wire and cable. Zhang Xinhua, deputy general manager of Jiangsu Wufang Cable Co., Ltd., pointed out that at present, only 30% of the cable varieties in China have reached the level acceptable and competitive in the international market, and 70% of the cable varieties urgently need to improve the product level and grade. The demand will not increase much in the future, but the demand for varieties and levels will be a prosperous period of development. For this reason, Jiangsu Wufang Cable Co., Ltd. actively adjusts its thinking, establishes a technological innovation strategy, optimizes its product structure, and continuously improves its competitiveness.

First of all, we should speed up the integration of resources, actively promote the reform of industry and enterprise structure through macro policy guidance, and promote the optimization of industrial organization structure. Actively set up large enterprise groups and promote the specialized production of small and medium-sized enterprises, and form a large-scale and specialized production system in the industry. \

Secondly, give full play to the role of associations in the development of the industry and build a bridge between enterprises and the government. At the same time, it will better play its role in safeguarding the overall interests of the industry and regulating the market order of the industry. On the basis of continuously increasing product quality supervision and spot checks, a unified, standardized, transparent and open market will be formed throughout the country.

Third, actively promote the brand strategy, through the integration of superior resources, to promote the improvement of the overall level of the industry. It is necessary to rely on science and technology, take enterprises as the main body, enhance independent research and development capabilities, vigorously develop new products and promote product upgrades. Advocate industry backbone enterprises to cooperate and jointly carry out applied basic research work and product reliability research, so that the level of product design, manufacturing and operation is gradually improved.

Fourth, enterprises should step up technological transformation, start with basic production processes, actively adopt high-quality and efficient process equipment, and eliminate obsolete equipment that consumes high energy and pollutes the environment. Pay attention to resource-saving product technology and production technology, enhance the ability of sustainable development, and enhance the ability of online automatic detection of products.

Fifth, vigorously promote the application of environmentally friendly production technology, and actively develop environmentally friendly wire and cable products. At the same time, efforts should be made to improve the level of enterprise management, actively promote institutionalized management, refined management and market-oriented operation, comprehensively improve the overall operating efficiency of enterprises, and promote the transformation of the industry's industrial growth mode.