Multinational companies continue to promote the development of the international valve market due to the further internationalization of the world economy. The regionalization of international trade has become another major feature. In addition, major valve manufacturers in Italy, Japan and South Korea have shifted their industries to developing countries and regions due to rising costs and other factors, and China has become a major producer and exporter for low and middle end valves.
From the situation of the product, more than a dozen valves are manufactured in the valve manufacturing industry in China, such as gate valves, globe valves, ball valves, butterfly valves, safety valves, check valves, throttle valves, plug valves, pressure reducing valves, diaphragm valves. traps, emergency shut-off valves, etc. At present, domestic key valve manufacturers have been able to design and manufacture various valves in accordance with international standards such as ISO international standards, DIN German standards, AWWA American standards, and some manufacturers' valves have reached the international advanced level.
1. Both the scale and amount of exported valves fluctuating slightly
According to customs data, the export value of China's valve manufacturing industry showed an overall trend of rising first and then falling from 2017 to 2020. In 2018, it was 16.624 billion US dollars, an increase of 13.5% year-on-year; in 2019 and 2020, the total export value of China's valve manufacturing industry somewhat decreased, which was 16.231 billion and 16.045 billion U.S. dollars, showing 3.93 and 1.86 percentage points year-on-year.
In terms of export volume, the valve export volume has remained unchanged since 2017 in China. In 2020, 5.105 billion valves were exported, with a year-on-year decrease of 3.27%.
2. The price of the export valve
Judging from the data in 2020 alone, since the technical level in China's valve manufacturing industry relatively lags behind compared with Western developed countries such as the United States and Germany. Therefore, exported valves are mainly low-end valves in China. The price is low compared with China's imported mid and high end valves. In 2020, the average export price of valves in China is 3.2 US dollars per valve.
If the timeline is stretched, from 2017 to 2020, the average export price of the Chinese valve manufacturing industry has risen from US$2.89 per set in 2017 to US$3.53 per set in 2020, with an increase of 10.73%.
3. Other valves, faucets, cock and similar devices are mostly exported.
According to the data of the General Administration of Customs in China, among the six categories of valve exports in China in 2020, the category with the largest amount is the category of other valves, faucets, cocks and parts of similar devices. The total exports are 11.318 billion RMB, accounting for 71% of the amount of the total valve export, followed by hydraulic or pneumatic transmission valves, with a total export amount of 3.574 billion US dollars, accounting for 22%.
4. The United States is the major customer for China's exported valves.
According to data from the General Administration of Customs, the top three major exporters for China's valves in 2020 are the United States, Germany and the Russian Federation. In 2020, the value of valves sold to the United States, Germany and Russia totaled US$4.931 billion, accounting for 30.73% of total exports. Different from China's imported valves, in terms of valve exports, only exported valves to the United States accounted for more than 20% of the value, and the exported value for other countries accounted for less than 10%. Among the valve export countries in China, the top ten countries are the United States, Germany, the Russian Federation, Japan, the United Kingdom, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Italy and Mexico. In 2020, China’s exports to the top ten countries totaled 8.267 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 51.52% of the total export value.
In general, China's current exported valves are mainly middle and low end valves. In terms of high-end valves, the valves produced cannot meet international standards due to the lack of technical levels for domestic manufacturers. There are fewer exports for high-end valves. At present, although domestic key valve manufacturers have been able to design and manufacture various valves in accordance with international standards such as ISO international standards, DIN German standards, AWWA American standards and some manufacturers’ valves have reached the international advanced level, the quality of Chinese valves is not stable enough compared with foreign advanced countries. The leakage often occurs in the Chinese valves. Compared with developed countries, there is still a certain gap in the matching capacity of valves. Therefore, in the next period, the status of China's exported valves will still be dominated by low and middle end valves.
