The Life And Death Pain Of Wenzhou Shuitou, The Pidu Of China Where Is The Way Out For Wenzhou Manufacturing?

Today, we will focus on Made in China. Although Shuitou Town in Pingyang County, Wenzhou does not raise pigs, it is the largest pig leather processing base in China. It is called "China's Leather City". Shuitou Town is a famous town with a population of 100000, but its raw leather output once accounted for one fourth of the country's total, and its annual output value reached 4 billion yuan, More than 1/3 of the financial revenue of Pingyang County depends on this town. However, when the reporter came to this Pidu of China not long ago, he was disappointed to see the situation.  
"China's leather capital" has become depressed
Reporter: "Shuitou Town in Pingyang, Wenzhou is the largest production base of pigskin leather in China. One out of every three pigskin leathers in China is produced in this place, so it has the title of" China's Leather City ". The South Leather City behind me is the largest distribution center of leather wholesale in China. But when I came here, I found that there was neither traffic nor bustle There are so many people coming here to buy goods. Go inside and have a look. "
In the wholesale market of the Leather City, the reporter saw that there was almost no business to do here. Although it was working hours, some wholesale outlets were empty. The merchant told the reporter that few merchants came to purchase leather now. Just two years ago, this so-called "China's Leather City" Shuitou Town produced 120 million pieces of pig skins every day, It has become the largest pig leather processing base in China.
Qiu Yangjun, secretary of Pingyang County Party Committee in Wenzhou, said, "At that time, the output value of Shuitou's leather industry was more than four billion yuan, and the direct tax revenue was 169 million yuan. The tax revenue related to this industry was more than two hundred million yuan. In fact, it was the most important pillar industry in Pingyang at that time."
From its heyday to the present, in just two or three years, the production and sales of leather in this town have shrunk sharply, and many factories have also locked their doors during working hours. At one of the main intersections of the base, the reporter saw a large billboard hanging on the roof of an enterprise, on which was written the signboard of leading enterprises in Pidu, There are exquisite bonsais and fountains in the garden of the factory, and production slogans of safe production and pollution control are neatly posted on each production building. Everything seems to be in order. However, when the reporter enters the factory and sees the scene inside, he is surprised.
Reporter: "I found that there was no one in the workshop. On my left side, there were 11 drums for leather processing. I counted 11 drums that were idle, and on my right side, there were shelves like this. This shelf should have been a long time, because there was a thick layer of dust on it. There was a label on it, which said that it was finished blue leather. In fact, it was already available for sale, but It is still piled here. "
The reporter saw at the scene that the whole factory covers an area of thousands of square meters, with a total height of four floors. However, there is not a single worker engaged in production in the whole factory. Processed leather products are scattered everywhere on the factory floor, and all round drums used to process leather are idle beside the wall, The leather products that had not been taken away in time were even placed on the flat leather processing machine, and the surface of the equipment was rusty.
In Shuitou Town, there are more than 550 enterprises engaged in tanning, of which 6 have an output value of more than 100 million yuan. The Baoli leather company we saw earlier is one of them. However, in Shuitou Town today, there are not a few enterprises like Baoli that are in a state of production suspension or semi production suspension, and the whole Shuitou Town is also somewhat desolate because of the decline of the tanning industry, How could the leather making city, which was still very popular a few years ago, become so depressed in a twinkling of an eye? Let's take a look at our reporter's investigation on another leather enterprise.
The management of Fengli Factory told the reporter that the price of the pig skin they bought this year rose from 30 to 40 yuan to 80 yuan, more than doubling in a year. However, a piece of processed pig skin can be split into three layers of leather, which together can sell for about 100 yuan at most, and the wages of factory workers have now increased by nearly 30%, In an office of the factory, the reporter found the boss Huang of the factory. He said that because there was no business to do now, he would sit here and watch TV most of the day.
Huang Kaifeng, the general manager of Wenzhou Pingyang Fengli Leather Company, said, "Now our profits are very low. For example, it is good for us to earn a dime or two for a foot of leather. A piece of leather can only earn one or two yuan at most, and you can only earn one or two yuan for a hundred yuan cost. This is the case. It is not good at ordinary times. If we fail to do well, we will lose money."
Boss Huang told the reporter that his enterprise had just started to resume production after an industry wide shutdown. Because a large number of chemicals used in tanning were discharged into rivers, the serious pollution of Shuitou Town was once listed as one of the top ten environmental violations in China.
Chen Jingbao, Deputy Chief of Pingyang County, Wenzhou: "Although you have made some money in the past few years, what you have made is basically environmental money, and you have basically remedied it without pollution remediation, so from the perspective of the government, it has issued relevant policies, that is, one drum, cut one drum, and we give him a subsidy of 30000 yuan, which is to make up with funds, so the government has later spent 143.5 million yuan to make up for this Those who have cut off their share conversion will be given appropriate subsidies. "
Chen Jingbao, the deputy county head of Pingyang County, is also the commander in chief of the local pollution control working group. Chen told reporters that he hoped to reduce the number of small enterprises that have no ability to control pollution as much as possible, and at the same time encourage large enterprises to concentrate on production and treatment, so as to achieve the goal of up to standard emissions.
Huang Kaifeng: "I invested more than 500000 yuan for each drum in pollution control."
Huang Kaifeng's Fengli Company is a local star enterprise. In terms of production scale and quality, it is among the best in Shuitou Town. He also hopes that through a round of industry reshuffle, his leather industry can really develop in the local area. Therefore, Huang Kaifeng not only spent millions of yuan to purchase rolls cut by small enterprises, but also built professional sewage facilities, After all the pollution control was completed, Huang Kaifeng's enterprises had the production capacity of 10000 pig skins a day. At the end of last year, when he went to Dongguan for orders, he wanted to win more orders. However, Huang Kaifeng found that nearly one fourth of the original shoe companies in Dongguan had stopped production and closed down, and the purchase volume of those enterprises that were still producing had also been greatly reduced.
Huang Kaifeng: "At least one third worse."
Referring to the Baoli leather factory next door, Huang Kaifeng told the reporter that the owner of the leather factory was two brothers. Now he has bought the mining right of a medium-sized coal mine in Shanxi and has not returned for three or four months. Huang Kaifeng himself has always hoped to turn to the mining industry, but because of the large investment in coal mines, He is not able to raise so much cash at present.
Huang Kaifeng: "Basically, the capital can't be channeled out. Now it costs about 900000 yuan to buy 10000 pieces of leather. For example, our factory costs about 2000 pieces of leather every day, and you only have one car in five days."
The boss here told the reporter that because the output of the upstream shoemaking enterprises dropped by nearly 30%, the demand of their leather processing industry also shrank sharply. In addition, the country cancelled their 8% export tax rebate this year, and the annual interest rate of enterprise loans was raised to 7.47%. This interest rate increase will not only affect enterprises that lend to banks, All foreign trade enterprises have to pay 3-4% interest to banks because they use letters of credit for half a year or three months, and the prices of raw materials and labor have also increased by 40%. Together, the operating costs of enterprises have increased by at least 30%. However, because of the shrinking market, it is difficult to increase the prices of their products by even 10%.
Chen Jie has been looking after this factory for his father for half a year now. His Qiaoxin Leather Factory is one of the top enterprises in Shuitou. His father is the owner of this factory and the president of Shuitou Leather Association. Although their leather production was also stopped last year, fortunately, their factory produces belts in addition to leather processing, Compared with other enterprises in Shuitou, Qiaoxin has not suffered serious impact because there is no pollution discharge in belt processing. But even so, the profit margin of the factory is also very low. On the operating platform of the factory, the reporter saw that workers are pasting price labels for retailers, many of which are labels of large chain supermarkets in the United States and Australia, including Wal Mart Kmart, etc. The price tag shows that the retail price of a belt in the United States is about $15. However, on their order form, the reporter found that the price of a belt exported by China is surprisingly low.
Reporter: "These prices are how much do you usually sell?"
Chen Jie: "More than 80 cents (US dollars)."
However, even at such a low price, it has no competitiveness in foreign trade export.
Chen Jie: "The price we quoted them, the customer said it was too expensive, and now India and Vietnam are cheaper than us."
The low profits of the industry forced the enterprise to turn to other industries. At the beginning of the year, Chen Jie's father took several relatives to Shanxi and Guizhou to investigate. It has been nearly half a year now. Finally, they have agreed on a medium-sized coal mine in Guizhou, which will be purchased in the near future.  
Director Qiu of Shuitou Town Leather Base Management Committee confirmed that the phenomenon of investment in coal mines is quite common in the local area.
Qiu Dianxing, Deputy Director of the Management Committee of Shuitou Town Leather Base in Wenzhou, said, "In the whole country, Wenzhou has the most people going out to do mining. In fact, I understand that in Wenzhou, Shuitou has the most people going out to do mining. In fact, the former leather makers used to do mining the most."
Wenzhou Chamber of Commerce has made its own statistics that 60% of the small and medium-sized coal mines in Shanxi Province are operated by Wenzhou people. The annual output of coal operated by Wenzhou people is about 20 million tons, accounting for 4.5% of the total annual output of coal in Shanxi, and 1% of the national total. About 30% of these coal mines are operated by people in Shuitou Town, The main reason to attract them is the considerable benefits of coal mining.
Qiu Dianxing: "If you make leather, you will produce an output value of 100 million yuan a year, and the profit will only be several million yuan. If you open a coal mine, you may make millions of yuan a month, so the difference is huge."
How did the tannery enterprises left behind in Shuitou Town survive the crisis?
The history of leather processing in Shuitou Town began in the Southern Song Dynasty. Many generations of people in Shuitou Town lived on the leather technology handed down from generation to generation. However, the reporter saw that under the pressure of higher environmental protection threshold, increased costs, poor sales, changes in foreign trade policies and higher interest rates, many leather enterprises in Shuitou Town have abandoned their old lines of business in the past two years, Going far away and turning to Shanxi to invest in coal mines, can the tanning enterprises that continue to stay in Shuitou Town survive the crisis and survive after the big waves?
Wang Chu, General Manager of Wenzhou Pingyang Far East Leather Company, said, "We have sold seven or eight of the top ten shoe kings in China, including Nike, Adidas, and then some Wenzhou shoe kings, Wenzhou shoe kings like Aokang."
Wang Chu is the boss of Pingyang Far East Leather Company. When the company started, like most enterprises in Shuitou Town, it produced wet blue leather without any pattern design and technical processing content. As fixed customers and big customers gradually occupied the main orders of Far East Company, their products gradually moved towards high-end High profit leather deep processing industry.
Wang Chu: "These are all deep processing of leather, which can be made into various beautiful designs and colors."
Reporter: "How high is the profit like this?"
Wang Chu: "Such profits should reach more than 50% to 80%. In this leather product, the profits are relatively high."
Reporter: "Is that rough processed hide like those ordinary blue ones?"
Wang Chu: "That's about 10%."
Although they have not been severely impacted by the shrinking market, due to the unavoidable pollution problem in leather processing, the Far East Leather Company, like other enterprises in Shuitou Town during the pollution control period, has been comprehensively suspended. Since the long-term orders of some major customers have not yet been delivered, Wang Chu has made several purchases in India and Southeast Asian countries, In the end, he still believes that industries like leather processing need large land area, more labor, and the cost of pollution control