The REACH regulation will be formally implemented on June 1st, 2008. This poses a challenge for the Chinese dyestuffs industry, which is in a period of rapid development. According to Professor Zhang Jie, deputy director of the China Dye Specialty Committee, China is the world's largest producer and exporter of dyes. The new regulations not only directly affect the export of dyes to Europe, but also affect the downstream industries. The EU predicts that the impact index of REACH on the dye industry (reflecting the indicators of the impact of different industries) will be as high as 70%, which may increase the price by more than 6%.
Dye export will be severely frustrated One of the important reasons for the rapid development of China's dye industry in recent years is the export growth. The REACH regulation covers about 30,000 chemicals and 3 to 5 million downstream products on the EU market. For our export products, dye intermediates and dye products are one of the key targets. Higher registration and evaluation requirements, expensive registration evaluation fees, and complex assessment and authorization procedures will increase the access threshold for dyes to be exported to the EU market and reduce the opportunities for China's dye industry to develop into the EU.
The impact of the new regulations on the export of dyestuff products in China is estimated to be no less than 25%, that is, about 4 billion US dollars. At present, China is the world's largest dye-producing country, with production accounting for 60% of the world's total; product categories exceed 1,200, and approximately 600 are ordinary products. At the same time, China is also the world’s largest exporter of dyes, exporting more than 25% of the world’s total. In 2006, the country produced about 850,000 tons of dyes and exported about 390,000 tons. The export to the EU is about 130,000 tons, accounting for about 1/3 of the total export volume, and about 200 export varieties.
The EU is one of the major exporters of dyes in China. In terms of the largest export volume in 2006, the export of dyes was approximately 42,000 tons, accounting for 16.7% of the total export volume of dyes, and the foreign exchange earned was approximately US$220 million; the export of organic pigments was approximately 46,000 tons, accounting for 33.2% of the total exports of organic pigments. About 200 million U.S. dollars. REACH regulations require registration of common names and index numbers, but China's indexless number of dyes and organic pigments account for a considerable proportion, including as many as 1400 dyes, accounting for 40.9% of the number of species; 280 organic pigments, accounting for the total 38.5% of the number. This will seriously affect the export of dyes in our country.
The amount of imported dyes will expand China's dyes are mainly used for textile production, and these textile products are mainly exported to the European Union and the United States. The new regulations impose stricter restrictions on textile chemicals: SVHC (Highly Concerned Chemical Substance) has been listed as a key monitoring target; textiles and apparel with an SVHC content of ≥ 0.1% and an annual output of ≥ 1 ton must be notified and a rigorous assessment must be carried out. And market access authorization. The list of restricted textiles was announced in 2009, including new regulations to replace 76/769/EEC, and restrictions will be more stringent until 2013.
As China's textile industry has gradually increased its export restrictions, the dye industry will be affected by both domestic sales and exports. In 2006, China’s textile and apparel exports accounted for approximately US$16 billion, accounting for 10.9% of the total export value. The proportion of new textile products and textile products exported by China is not less than 30%. Moreover, the textile chemicals produced and developed in China are different from similar products in the world. Therefore, the cost of animal experiments, registration and testing will be greatly increased. Affecting the dye industry's opportunities to develop into the EU.
According to Wang Zhulin, secretary-general of the China Textile Engineering Society, the EU’s strict restrictions on textile chemicals have forced China’s textile products to use foreign dyestuffs for foreign exchange earnings. This will increase the import of dyes, which is a big blow to the domestic dye industry. Zhang Jie predicts that the export costs of dyes and textiles and clothing will increase by more than 5%.
REACH has a chain effect In the past, the transfer of dyes in Europe, Japan, and the United States was an important reason for the rapid growth of dye exports in China. In recent years, China's dye production has continued to grow at an average annual rate of 7.46%, and its export volume has grown at an average annual rate of 6.96%. The dye export market continues to expand into Europe and the United States. The chain reaction of the REACH regulations will lead to the deterioration of the international trade environment and further affect the export and development of dyes from China to countries and regions outside the EU.
On the surface, REACH is just one measure for strengthening the safety management of chemicals within the EU. In fact, if the United States, Japan, and other countries follow suit, the international trade environment for dyes will be greatly changed and will eventually have an impact on the entire international trade environment. As a big dye country, China will suffer a great deal in the competition in the international market.
Experts in the industry believe that China's dye industry must seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, make full preparations, actively respond to it, improve the industry internally, improve its ability to respond quickly and compete internationally, and develop international cooperation to achieve complementary advantages, so as to continue to reduce REACH regulations. The negative impact on the industry's future development.
Chemicals Products
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