China's printing machinery manufacturing industry still has a long way to go

As the total import volume of printing equipment fell by 0.34% in 2006 compared with 2005, China's export of printing products has been advancing at a high rate of 39.47%. However, we should never be complacent about this. Absolute data tells us that China’s printing machinery still exceeds its output by more than 3 times. Moreover, China's export products are dominated by low energy levels, but they are large in volume but low in price. Imported products are relatively high in energy level, and they have small quantities but high selling prices. Post-impression equipment imports decreased by 21.71% in 2006 from the previous year. This is due to the relatively low precision requirements of post-press equipment relative to printing equipment. Post-press equipment manufactured in China gradually replaced the imported equipment, but more importantly, The state has made adjustments to the import tax items and cancelled almost all the post-impression equipment exemption from customs duties and value-added tax policies, leaving many companies to choose equipment within the property.

Objectively speaking, whether it is prepress, printing equipment, or post-press equipment, the gap between China and the world's printing industry is still very large. What is even more serious is that with the establishment of foreign printer manufacturing companies in China, printer companies in China are facing new challenges.

Take the printing press as an example. In 2006, there were winding-type offset printing presses in the import and export sections of the printing press. In a jargon of the industry, the web offset press had both exports and imports in 2006. The volume of exports was 202 units, with a total value of 34,165,033 dollars, or US$169,000 per unit, which was converted into RMB at the exchange rate of 1:8 that year, roughly 1.35 million yuan. In that year, 73 imported coiler-type offset presses were imported from China, with a total value of $140,154,744, which was approximately $1,9220,000, and was converted to RMB15,360,000 in the same above-mentioned caliber. This is the difference in the technical content of the equipment brought about on the sale price.

The same is true of the glue binding machine in the postpress equipment. In 2006, China exported 1,118 units, with a total value of 2,356,146 U.S. dollars, or about 2,107 U.S. dollars. Imported 80 sets, with a total value of 8,418,566 U.S. dollars, and 1,05,232 U.S. dollars, the price for exporting more than 1,000 Taiwan units is less than one-third of the price of 80 U.S. exports to China. It must be said that it is the gap between developing countries and developed countries like us. Only by recognizing the gaps and clearly understanding the differences can we continue to work hard and make continuous progress.

In recent years, along with the adjustment of China’s exemption from tariffs and value-added tax policies, the number of cases of overseas printing companies setting up factories in China has gradually increased. The most typical is the post-press equipment manufacturer - Swiss Martini company settled its manufacturer in Shenzhen, from the manufacture of disc packers, to today has expanded to manufacture saddle stitch gutters. The same is true of Heidelberg, Germany, which set up a factory in Qingpu, Shanghai. Since the manufacture of the Porsche machine, more than 100 Stahl folding machines have been offline. The production of small presses has also been launched. These companies put their product prices close to the market price of similar domestic products.

Heidelberg has even launched a "zero-down payment" sales strategy for post-press equipment. In addition, relying on their grasp of product quality, it poses a strong pressure on similar products in China. This is a problem that our domestic printer companies must deal with seriously.

In short, statistical data is the basis for our judgment. We should carefully read and analyze the data, find problems, and start to solve these problems. While affirming the achievements of China's printing press industry over the past few years, it is even more necessary to say that China's printing press manufacturing industry still has a long way to go to catch up with the international advanced level. We must continue to work hard on the existing basis. .