Three years after joining the WTO: a large inventory of the chemical industry

By November 11 this year, China will have to join the WTO for three years. In the past three years, the domestic industry has weathered storms and experienced a lot of bumps and gains. We must see that the success we have achieved so far is a phased one, because according to China’s WTO accession agreement, three years is a critical point for the protection period of most industries, including the petroleum and chemical industries, and China’s accession to the WTO will enter a critical transition. period. As China's accession to the WTO promises to be honored in stages, the domestic market environment will be more open and the pressure from overseas will be greater. Our company must plan ahead and be prepared. China's accession to the WTO has been seriously affected by unforeseen circumstances. Before China's accession to the WTO, there was a quite popular saying that accession to the WTO would be beneficial in the long term, but that in the short-term it would do more harm than good, and domestic related industries would be severely impacted, especially in agriculture, petrochemicals, and automobiles. Wait. Although it is only three years after joining the WTO, it can be seen that the argument that 'short-term harm is more than profit' is not accurate. In the past three years, no matter whether it is agriculture, petrochemical or automobile industry, it has not experienced the serious import shock predicted by some people. Instead, it has experienced rapid and healthy development. In the three years after China’s oil and chemical industry joined the WTO, the economic situation of the entire industry was better every year. The total industrial output value of the industry was increased by 8.43% in 2002 compared with the previous year, and it was higher in 2003 than in 2002. The growth rate was 25.55%, which was a year-on-year increase of 28.67% from January to September this year. Total industry profits increased by 9.57% in 2002 compared with the previous year, and increased by 43.60% in 2003 compared to 2002. From January to September this year, the year-on-year increase was 51.02%. Analysing the reasons, the point of view of the impact of accession to the WTO is mainly to ignore the other side of things, that is, to join the WTO to actively promote the domestic economy. The economic development has strongly stimulated the huge demand of the market and brought unprecedented growth to industries such as agriculture, petrochemicals, and automobiles. At the same time, China's opening up of the market did not begin with the accession to the WTO, but it has been open for more than 20 years. Moreover, in the negotiations on accession to the WTO, China has sought certain protection conditions and a gradual opening period for some sensitive key products and departments. During the transitional period, related industries are generally not vulnerable to shocks. Specifically, the reasons for the smaller impact of the WTO entry are mainly the following three points. First, due to early opening, the impact period has passed. Before joining the WTO, some areas in China have already been in an actual open state, and the impact pressure has been broken down and digested beforehand. For example, the commercial retail industry, according to China’s commitment, was only opened to foreign investors on December 11, 2004, three years after its accession to the WTO, but before that, some places had opened up this area in advance, and some well-known international companies For example, Wal-Mart, Carrefour, Itochu, and eight hundred associates have entered China to set up retail stores. The second is the protection of the transition period. Taking 2005 as a basic tipping point, some of the major sensitive areas are still in the transitional period. The end point of the opening has not yet arrived and the possible impact has not come yet. For products such as automobiles, China still retains import quota management before 2005, and foreign cars will not be able to drive straight. In the field of trade in services, China has made open commitments to nine major departments and about 90 sub-sectors in commerce, distribution, communications, construction, education, environment, finance, tourism, and transportation. The promises are implemented sooner or later. The level is high or low. Some commercial services promises to be implemented when they join. Other commitments such as distribution, telecommunications, and financial services have a transition period of 1 to 6 years. By the end of 2004, China allowed foreign investment to be controlled by wholesale and retail companies, allowing foreign investors to set up retailers of fertilizers and refined oil; at the end of 2005, foreign businessmen will be allowed to set up wholly-owned courier, road freight, and freight forwarding companies; at the end of 2006, foreign companies will be allowed to set up fertilizers and refined oils. The wholesale enterprises allow foreign banks to provide comprehensive banking services and allow the establishment of wholly foreign-owned railway freight companies. Third, due to changes in the international market, import pressure has eased. The domestic market and industry have not been severely affected by imports, and there are certain related factors with the changes in the international market. For example, in the United States in the face of a severe drought in 2002, the increase in international agricultural product prices eased the pressure on the domestic agricultural product market. Since 2003, due to the impact of the Second Iraq War and the investigation of Russia’s Yukos Oil Company, the prices of oil and natural gas in the international market have continued to rise, resulting in higher prices of petrochemical products and fertilizers in the international market, weakening the import momentum of these products. . Among them, the main variety of chemical fertilizer, urea, has a relatively large increase in exports due to relatively low prices in the domestic market. In the past three years, what people have seen more is that China's accession to the WTO has promoted the development of domestic industries in terms of scale expansion, maintaining momentum, improving efficiency, and strengthening the stamina. The positive role has gradually emerged. The first is the further improvement of the market economy legal system. In the past three years, nearly 30 departments of the State Council have cleared more than 2,300 pieces of laws and regulations and departmental rules in accordance with relevant WTO rules and China’s need to reform the economic management system. 325 items were amended by the National People's Congress, the State Council and various departments, and 830 items were abolished. Locally, a total of 190,000 pieces of local regulations, local government regulations, and other policies and measures were revised and abolished. The scope of clean-up covers various aspects such as goods trade, service trade, intellectual property, and investment. Large-scale clean-up of laws and regulations has not only promoted the improvement of the market economy legal system, but also played a catalytic role in the transformation of government functions, transparency, and administration according to law. The most significant change after China's accession to the WTO was the acceleration of the growth of economic aggregates and the expansion of market space. In 2003, China achieved a total import and export volume of 851.19 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 37.1% over the previous year, ranking fourth in the world. Domestic enterprises' pace of 'going global' has been accelerating. In 2003, the turnover of domestic enterprises contracting foreign projects and labor services reached US$17.23 billion, an increase of 20.1% over the previous year. The scale of development of China's utilization of foreign capital has further expanded. In 2003, the actual utilization of foreign investment was 53.51 billion US dollars, and it continued to maintain its leading position in the world. It has ranked first in developing countries for 10 consecutive years. The structure of foreign investment has been further optimized. Capital and technology-intensive projects have increased. Transnational corporations have established more regional headquarters, purchasing centers and R&D centers in China. The proportion of wholly foreign-owned projects has continued to rise, and foreign investment in service industries has accelerated, opening up new areas and new areas. The market and new business conditions have driven the rapid development of the tertiary industry in China. China's accession to the WTO and the improvement of the investment environment have further boosted the confidence of foreign investors in China. The accelerating entry of foreign capital and advanced technology has promoted the adjustment of the domestic industrial structure, accelerated the pace of joint, merger and reorganization among enterprises, further improved the competitiveness of enterprises, and further strengthened the overall strength of the national economy. The new starting point for honoring commitments in 2005 With the deepening of China's commitment to the WTO accession and the end of the transitional period, the impact on related industries will gradually deepen, and some deep-seated conflicts in the Chinese economic structure will gradually emerge. From a long-term perspective, it is too early to draw conclusions as to whether China's accession to the WTO will outweigh its disadvantages. It will be premature to conclude, and will depend to a large extent on the efforts of the Chinese government at all levels after the transition period and the efforts of the vast number of companies. . The year 2005 is a new starting point for China's WTO accession process. Enterprises in the oil and chemical industry will face many new situations. Since the WTO mechanism is based on a multilateral agreement between countries, China and the United States and China and the EU, which have the largest relations with China, will generally see the impact that domestic companies will have. In terms of chemicals and related products alone, China promised in the WTO accession agreement with the United States that by January 1, 2005, China will reduce the average tariff on chemical products by more than half, that is, the average tax rate of 14.74% will be It eventually fell to 6.9%. The object of tariff reduction will include all chemical products that are preferentially exported by the United States. It also involves more than two-thirds of the more than 1,100 products in the CTHA issued by the Uruguay Round. According to the agreement, the tariffs for various categories of products will be 0%, 5.5%, and 6.6%. China also has significant reductions in tariffs on other items. The extent of tariff reduction is unprecedented in the domestic chemical industry, and domestic companies will experience unprecedented pressure from imported products. Commitment to quotas, all chemical quotas will be cancelled. With respect to import and export trade rights, all economic entities will have the right to operate import and export on December 11, 2004. All chemical products except fertilizers can be imported anywhere in the country. The right to import fertilizer products is still under further negotiation. Among them. In terms of commitment to domestic retail rights, China will allow foreign companies to engage in a wide range of retail services since December 11, 2004. Except for products subject to legal restrictions such as national security, the retail of all chemical products including refined oil and chemical fertilizers will be Open to foreign companies. As for petroleum and chemical products, according to the WTO accession agreement reached between China and the EU, in terms of tariff concessions, following the Uruguay Round Agreement on the Harmonization of International Chemicals Tariffs, two-thirds of chemical intermediates will be coordinated since 2005. Tariffs will be reduced to 5.5% and the harmonized tariffs for manufactured goods will be reduced to 6.5%. However, the tariff implementation period for some manufactured products will be extended to 2008. The elimination of crude oil and natural gas tariffs for pipeline transport, some basic organic chemical raw materials fell to 2% in 2005, and no coordination tariffs were applied. By 2008, the average tariff of chemical products fell to 6.5%. In terms of non-tariff measures, quotas, permits and other measures cannot be used in addition to tariffs to restrict the import of products from other countries. In the five-year transitional period after China's accession to the WTO, quotas will be increased by 15% per year on the basis of initial allowances until canceled. In the area of ​​import and export trade, the monopoly of crude oil and fertilizers has been liberalized. China has agreed to gradually open up crude oil, processing oil and NPK fertilizers to private traders. In the field of distribution services: gradually open up the trade and distribution services (including wholesale, retail, transportation, etc.) of domestic refined oil, fertilizers and other petrochemical products. Since December 11, 2004, retail rights have been granted for refined oil products and fertilizers. After December 11, 2006, let go of the wholesale rights of crude oil and refined oil, and the retail and wholesale rights of chemical fertilizers, but retain the import franchise of crude oil, refined oil and fertilizer. In the area of ​​foreign investment: the elimination of restrictions on foreign-invested enterprises' policies and regulations, including restrictions on localized content, back-selling, technology transfer, foreign exchange balance, and research and development activities in China. At the same time, the foreign investment approval system will be reformed to increase the transparency of foreign investment approvals, and foreign investment approvals will be conducted in accordance with the published laws and regulations. It can be seen that 2005 is a critical point for the change of economic environment after China's accession to the WTO, and domestic companies will face increasing competitive pressure. Fertilizers and oil companies face new shock waves. Currently, due to the long-term policy support of the Chinese government, most of the domestic fertilizer and petroleum companies have achieved monopoly operations of varying degrees. They enjoy the exclusivity given by the government in a certain range of wholesale and retail links. Sex franchise treatment. From December 11th, 2004, China is committed to opening up the retail market for chemical fertilizers and processed oil in accordance with its accession to the WTO. From December 11, 2006, it is necessary to open the wholesale market for chemical fertilizers and refined oil, which will bring more impact to domestic fertilizer and petroleum companies. Great influence. As an important agricultural means of production information, chemical fertilizers have long been managed directly by the state and monopolized in China. The supply and marketing cooperatives were once the only business units in the country. At the end of 1998, the country's management system for fertilizer circulation was changed from direct management to indirect management. The competition mechanism was introduced into the circulation of fertilizers. The supply and marketing cooperatives expanded their business to supply and marketing cooperatives agricultural resources systems, agricultural 'three stations', and fertilizer manufacturers. At present, the domestic chemical fertilizer market is basically a supply and marketing cooperative system and a production enterprise each occupying half of the country. Judging from the status quo, on the one hand, the fertilizer business of the supply and marketing cooperatives system has not formed a closely linked industrial and commercial alliance. The distribution of business outlets in the administrative region has resulted in low circulation efficiency and many units have difficulties in operating. On the other hand, the circulation of production companies has the problems of small scale and high cost, and each company has to fight alone and its operating strength is weak. The common problem is that the level of services for the farmers is not high enough to meet the needs of farmers, and even individual counterfeit fertilizers flooded markets in individual areas, resulting in pit farmers and farmers. The huge fertilizer market in China has long attracted the attention of foreign fertilizer companies and has entered the domestic market in various forms. For example, the US fertilizer giant, Cargill, entered the Yunnan Province, where phosphorus resources are abundant, in the form of a joint venture a few years ago. The Cargill-brand Phosphate Compound Fertilizer produced has emerged in the domestic market, showing strong market competitiveness. The opening of the fertilizer market from now on, and the opening of the fertilizer wholesale market two years later, means that foreign companies will be able to compete fully with domestic companies in the production, wholesale, and retail sectors. It is difficult to say that the strong foreign fertilizer companies will not be able to Large-scale entry into the country, as well as even weaker domestic enterprises, were defeated by each, and the fertilizer market was dominated by foreign products. In view of the current status of domestic fertilizer production and operation enterprises, some experts have suggested that in order to respond to the open competition in the fertilizer market, it is necessary to establish and focus on cultivating several large-scale production and operation-type chemical fertilizer enterprise groups. It is possible to reorganize the assets of chemical fertilizer production companies, supply and marketing cooperatives, agricultural resources systems, and agrochemical service systems, deal with the policy-making losses that have historically formed in the supply and marketing cooperatives' agricultural resources system, resolve the triangular debts among enterprises, and enable them to move lightly; Mergers and reorganizations between the two companies will promote the flow of high-quality assets to large-scale and dominant companies to increase the competitiveness of domestic fertilizer companies. The production and operation of refined oil products must go through four major stages: oil production, oil refining, wholesale, and retail. Since the country's strategic restructuring of the entire petrochemical industry in 1999, the above four major links have been firmly controlled by Sinopec and PetroChina. In the retail sector, some private capital and foreign capital occupy a small amount of market. According to statistics, among the existing 78,000 gas stations in China, there are 36,300 oil and petrochemical group companies, which is almost half of the total, and most of the gas station's oil import and wholesale right are also controlled by Sinopec. In the hands of PetroChina. The proportion of foreign gas stations is less than 4%, about 300, many of which were obtained using a variety of circuitous tactics in previous years. In the view of international oil giants, the Chinese refined oil market has always been the fat of their eyes. As the deadline for opening up the retail oil product market is approaching, they have accelerated their pace of entry into the Chinese market. There are only a few major moves this year. On February 24th, British BP and PetroChina signed an agreement in Beijing to build 500 gas stations in Guangdong Province. In August, Shell and Sinopec’s “in hand” formed a joint venture to form Sinopec Shell (Jiangsu) Petroleum Sales Co., Ltd. Gasoline station's refined oil retail service network. In early October, France’s Total and Sinochem signed a joint venture agreement to establish a fuel company. The two parties intend to establish a four-year agreement in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, and Liaoning around the Bohai region within seven years. The retail network of about 200 gas stations was developed; on November 4th, BP (Zhejiang) Petroleum Co., Ltd., a joint venture between British BP and Sinopec, was unveiled in Beijing. The company's existing gas station network is mainly transferred to Sinopec in Zhejiang. A service network with 500 gas stations is established and operated in Hangzhou, Ningbo, and Shaoxing. Obviously, the use of joint ventures to enter the domestic market is only the initial practice of the international oil giants. With the opening of the refined oil market and the development of the business, they will use more wholly foreign-funded methods to enter China, and competition will in particular increase with the end of 2006. The opening of the goods wholesale business has intensified, and the resulting competitive pressures will actually be placed in front of domestic oil companies. For the upcoming contest, Chinese officials concerned expressed concerns about Chinese companies. In August last year, Vice Minister of Commerce Zhang Zhigang once pointed out: Domestic refined oil business operators are far below the international average in both wholesale and retail sales volume. Level. According to the annual sales volume of 120 million tons of refined oil products, the annual sales volume of 2,500 wholesale enterprises and individual wholesale enterprises is only 40,000 tons, and the single station fuel volume is only 1,500 tons, even if compared with neighboring countries such as Japan and South Korea. The gap is great. If the fundamental transition cannot be achieved during the transitional period, it will be difficult to adapt to the requirements of market opening, and it is especially difficult to adapt to the fierce competition situation faced by the accession to the WTO. In response to the weaknesses of the 'large group and small business' existing in domestic companies, Sinopec recently made a determined effort to start a 'lean bodybuilding' campaign. Sinopec chief executive Wang Jiming revealed that Sinopec will shut down 1,527 gas stations with low efficiency within a few years. . Some experts believe that although the shock after the release of the oil market does exist, it does more good than harm. Specifically, there are three points: First, it can promote the Chinese oil industry to learn from abroad in order to increase efficiency; there can be no increase without competition; second, there will be beneficial supplements to China's oil security; and third, it will break the monopoly market of Sinopec and PetroChina. The situation will make the market more competitive and will greatly benefit the formation of market-oriented oil prices. Three years after China’s accession to the WTO, the overall transition has been stable, but the severe challenges remain. With the deepening of the process of fulfilling commitments and the end of the transitional period, the impact of accession to the WTO will gradually deepen, and the post-transition response will be more complicated and demanding. Experts pointed out that the basis for response work is to promote industrial restructuring as soon as possible and enhance the competitiveness of enterprises. The important point at present is to intensify the study of countermeasures for key sensitive industries, use methods consistent with the rules of the WTO, take the initiative to prevent trade protectionism, and earnestly safeguard domestic industrial safety. China and WTO Memorabilia On April 21, 1948, China signed the provisional application protocol of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and became one of the States parties to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. On March 6, 1950, the Taiwan authorities followed the UN secretary-general and withdrew from the GATT. In November 1982, China obtained GATT observer status and was able to attend the annual meeting of the parties. In April 1984, he received the status of a special GATT observer and was able to attend the meeting of the GATT representative council. On November 6, 1984, the GATT Council decided that China could participate in the meetings of all GATT organizations. On July 11, 1986, China formally paid a note to GATT Secretary-General Dunkel, requesting the restoration of the status of member states of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. On March 4, 1987, the GATT Council established the China Working Group on the Status of Chinese Parties. In February 1988, the China Working Group held its first meeting. At the closing meeting of the Uruguay Round in Marrakech, Morocco, on April 15, 1994, China, together with 122 other parties, signed the final document for the implementation of the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations. In view of the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO), China expressed its desire to become a founding member of the WTO. The 19th meeting of the GATT China Working Group ended on December 21, 1994. China has not reached an agreement with other states parties on the issue of becoming a founder of WTO. On January 1, 1995, the World Trade Organization replaced the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. On July 1, 1995, the WTO decided to accept China as an observer of the organization. In November 1995, China announced plans to reduce its import tariff by 30%. The informal multilateral consultation on China's accession to the WTO on March 20, 1996 was held in Geneva, Switzerland. March 6, 1997 China's accession to the WTO resulted in progress. The EU hopes that China will join the WTO by the end of the year. In October 1997, China announced that the average import tariff was reduced from 23% to 17%. On October 29, 1997, China and the United States issued a joint statement in Washington, pointing out that China’s full participation in the multilateral trading system is in the interests of both parties. On December 5, 1997, members of developing countries in the WTO issued a statement in Geneva, unanimously supporting China's early accession to the WTO. In February 1998, China promised to further reduce import tariffs. The seventh meeting of the WTO China Working Group ended on April 8, 1998 in Geneva. On March 15, 1999, Premier Zhu Rongji said that the deepening of China’s reforms has accumulated experience and that China’s regulatory capacity and affordability have increased with regard to issues that may be brought in line with WTO conditions. On April 10, 1999, Shi Guangsheng, Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation of the People's Republic of China, and Barshefsky, the U.S. Trade Representative, signed the Sino-America Cooperation Agreement on behalf of the two governments in Washington. This was reached by the two countries on the WTO issue. The first agreement was considered as a prelude to China’s accession to the WTO. After signing the agreement, Premier Zhu Rongji and President Clinton issued a joint statement. In the joint statement, the United States promised to 'strongly support China's accession to the WTO in 1999'. On April 24, 1999, China and the United States held talks in Beijing. The topics of the talks included textile trade, service trade, and procedural issues. After the NATO-led NATO attacks on the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia on May 8, 1999, Sino-US negotiations on China’s accession to the WTO were suspended. On September 11, 1999, President Jiang Zemin and President Clinton held meetings during the informal meeting of the leaders of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Organization in Auckland, New Zealand. The two sides exchanged views on China’s accession to the WTO. On September 13, 1999, Shi Guangsheng, Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation of the People's Republic of China, held talks with U.S. Trade Representative Barshefski on China’s accession to the World Trade Organization. On October 16, 1999, Foreign News reported that President Clinton called President Jiang Zemin to exchange views on China’s accession to the WTO. On October 24, 1999, US Treasury Secretary Summers visited China and held talks with Premier Zhu Rongji on China’s accession to the WTO. On November 10, 1999, U.S. trade negotiator Barshefsky and his assistant Sparin arrived in Beijing. The new round of bilateral talks between China and the United States on China’s accession to the WTO was held in Beijing. On November 15, 1999, China and the United States reached an agreement on China’s accession to the WTO.

HIPS Sheet For Vacuum Forming

Hips Sheet For Vacuum Forming,High Impact Polystyrene Sheet,Styrene Sheet For Refrigerator Door,Hips Sheet High Impact Ps Sheet

Yixing Guanyu New Materials Co.,Ltd , https://www.plasticsheetsupply.com