Container “a box is difficult to find”, so that container production enterprises ushered in an explosive growth, some container enterprises during the Spring Festival is also stepping up production to catch up with orders.

Container supply exceeds demand Manufacturers continue to hire workers

In Xiamen Taiping container manufacturing workshop, every three minutes more than a container to complete the assembly line.

At the busiest time for front-line workers, there are more than 4,000 40-foot containers in a single menstrual hand.

Container factory orders began to increase in June last year, especially in August and September ushered in a burst of growth.

Correspondingly, China’s import and export of foreign trade has achieved positive growth for seven consecutive months since June 2020, and the total value of both imports and exports for the whole year has reached a record high.

On the one hand, China’s foreign trade orders have increased sharply. On the other hand, the epidemic has reduced the efficiency of overseas ports and overloaded empty containers, which can go out but cannot come back. There has been a mismatch, and the situation of “one container is hard to find” continues.

Containers will be shipped after acceptance

Since the fourth quarter of last year, 40ft containers for export have become the main type of order sales, said Mr Wang, general manager of Xiamen Pacific Container.

He said that the current order is scheduled to be produced in June this year, and the customer is in urgent need of boxes.

Once the finished boxes are off the production line and accepted by the customs, they are basically sent directly to the wharf for customers to use.

Industry insiders predict that a massive return of empty containers may occur in the third or fourth quarter of this year with the popularization of Covid-19 vaccine, but the entire container industry should not return to the situation of selling containers at a loss in 2019.

With 95% of the world’s container capacity in China, the recovery of the shipping industry, the demand for container replacement in the 10-15 year renewal cycle, and the new demand for special containers brought by environmental protection, construction and new energy will bring opportunities to the industry.

Container industry opportunities and challenges coexist

The hot market of “one container is hard to find” is still going on. Behind this is the effective control of the epidemic in China, the strong demand for overseas orders, and a large number of empty containers at ports are stuck overseas.

All these have created unprecedented high profits in the container industry and stimulated a number of downstream enterprises. In 2020, the number of newly added container enterprises is as high as 45,900.

But behind this opportunity, the challenge never goes away:

The price of raw materials has greatly increased production costs; Exchange rate fluctuations and RMB appreciation, resulting in sales exchange losses; Recruitment is difficult, slowing down the pace of enterprise production.

The boom was initially expected to continue at least through the second quarter of this year.

But if the overseas epidemic turns a corner and the port efficiency improves, the high profit of the domestic container industry is bound to become.

In the highly concentrated market competition pattern, not blindly expand production, and constantly excavate new demand is the way to win the enterprise.