"We only received half of the shipment in September, and in October, none of the containers was sent out." A person who can export canned food yesterday told the first financial daily. According to him, since the second half of this year, canned export business has been declining all the way. "In order to ensure sales scale. We eventually have to discount 5% to 10% to sell the goods to domestic middlemen, with only half of the profits.

 

Affected by the financial crisis, China's canned industry, which exports more than US $3 billion a year, is suffering from labor pains. The reporter learned from the Canning Industry Association's annual meeting information conference yesterday that the growth rate of canned exports has fallen sharply since this year. Last year, 20% of the growth rate sharply changed to this year's January-September growth of only 1%.

 

Taking Shanghai Meilin, a leading cannery in China, for example, its export volume fell by more than 50% from January to September this year. According to Shanghai Merlin, in addition to the negative impact of the financial crisis, due to the "melamine incident" caused by food safety problems also have a certain impact on exports. But the person in charge said that despite the market downturn, Shanghai Merlin will not give up to expand the overseas market has a certain foundation. After investing in the Czech Republic, Shanghai Merlin is planning to build a new plant in the Philippines to reduce the intermediate links.

 

If big companies like Shanghai Merlin still have the strength to go directly overseas, then most of the canning companies that make a living from the sticker will encounter more severe challenges. Liang Zhongkang, chairman of the China Canning Industry Association, told the media that foreign Importers'capital chain problems directly affected the export business of domestic canning enterprises due to the financial crisis. Liang Zhongkang pointed out that as a daily consumer goods, canned consumption did not actually shrink due to the financial crisis. "Most of the domestic enterprises have been engaged in canned OEM production for a long time and can not undertake overseas sales independently, so they have certain dependence on overseas importers."

 

Against this background, the battle for domestic demand has become the last straw for the survival of canned enterprises. From the data point of view, the domestic market is still growing at a certain rate. According to Liang Zhongkang, in January to September this year, in the case of export hindrance, the total production and sales of canned goods still increased by 15.5%. However, due to the long-term dependence of domestic canning enterprises on the overseas market, there are many difficulties in developing the domestic market.

 

"Export food quality control is very strict, if there is no brand, the price in the domestic market will not be competitive." Jun Li food company engaged in canned trade said. Liang Zhongkang pointed out: "domestic market training needs to spend time on brands and channels." At the same time, domestic consumers' perception of canned food also needs great efforts to change. At present, the per capita annual consumption of canned goods in China is only 1 kg, which is far lower than 90 kg in the United States, 50 kg in Western Europe and 23 kg in Japan. Therefore, the domestic market has great potential.

 

Some leading canned enterprises have already made certain achievements in the domestic demand market. Liaoyu Fishery Group, a large domestic aquatic product group, jointly entered the domestic fish canning market in 2003 through a joint venture with Japan's largest canning manufacturer, Japan's Maluha Company. After several years of hard work, the sales volume reached 30 million yuan last year, which is expected to reach 50 million yuan this year and 80 million yuan next year. Meanwhile, Shanghai Meilin is also actively supporting the layout of the country with the support of the parent company Guangming group.

 

Industry insiders believe that the cultivation of the domestic canned market by these large enterprises to a certain extent can also drive SMEs to transfer to the domestic market.