Plastic meal kitchen exports to Europe face "exam": quality management is the key

From July 1, the EU will take special measures for the production of polyamide and melamine plastic tableware made or shipped from the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong. The new EU Directive is more stringent than the previous ones, and it will further impact the export of plastic kitchen utensils, but it will, to a certain extent, force the normative development of the domestic plastic kitchen utensils industry.

EU standard "backgammon"

On March 22, 2011, the European Union issued the directive No 284/2011 for China. The directive pointed out that due to the large defects in the quality control system of plastic products exported to Europe from China, it will be produced or shipped from China on July 1. And the Hong Kong area of ​​polyamide and melamine plastic kitchen utensils to strengthen the immigration control measures: First, the importer must provide a product of primary aromatic amines and formaldehyde in line with the EU requirements for a limited number of statements, and attach the appropriate test report; Second, member states for Imported goods will be assigned a specific first port of entry, and a list of ports of entry will be published on the Internet. Third, the competent authorities of member states will conduct sampling inspections on imported goods at a rate of 10%. According to regulations, only after all inspections are completed and qualified, can the goods enter the EU market freely; otherwise, the member states should immediately notify the European Commission through a rapid warning system and take relevant control measures.

Dong Jinshi, executive vice president and general secretary of the International Food Packaging Association, said that there are hardly any companies that produce plastic kitchen utensils in Europe, and 80% of their products come from China. However, the EU is also the area with the highest access requirements, especially after the exposure of domestic toxic melamine tableware in 2009. The EU has been more wary of importing Chinese plastic kitchen utensils. "The new EU Directive is significantly stricter than previous standards, not only has higher requirements for formaldehyde limits, but also provides for the sampling inspection of 10% of imported goods. Prior to this, as long as the product was accompanied by a domestic test report, it was sampled. The odds are very small."

Corporate "crises" and "machines" coexist in the face of the new EU regulations, plastic kitchenware export enterprises can be described as "sorrowful and happy two days." The New Deal may further impact the export of plastic kitchen utensils, but to a certain extent, it also forces the standard development of the domestic plastic kitchen utensils industry. It may not be a bad thing for those companies with high production standards and technical standards.

There is no doubt that the implementation of this targeted bill will have a greater impact on China's exports of plastic food and kitchenware industry. In the future, such products exported to the European Union will be required to be tested and provide relevant documents, and the cost of enterprise testing and management will be greatly increased. increase. Specifically, the port limits the flexibility and convenience of transport and destination selection, lengthens the distance of commodity circulation, and increases logistics costs; sampling and inspection of batches will extend the customs clearance time and increase the number of goods waiting at ports and yards. A variety of customs clearance costs; request for batch approval of laboratory test reports will further increase the cost of production of related products in China. Under the more stringent requirements of the European Union, if the use of low-quality raw materials for production will inevitably fail to meet its standards, and if the replacement of higher-quality production materials will be unprofitable, many small and medium-sized plastic kitchen utensil companies will face closure. fate.

Other export companies that have been producing more standard products for a long time and focus on improving the technology are opportunities. Hu Dahua, deputy general manager of Beijing Huatai Imitation Porcelain Products Co., Ltd., said that its factory's previous production standards have already exceeded the EU's new regulations. Therefore, in the face of the new regulations, they need not be confused. On the contrary, he believes that after the standard requirements increase, many companies will be driven out of the EU market, which gives them more opportunities. Luo Chenghua, a business manager of a melamine cutlery production company in Dongguan, said that the new EU regulations have no impact on them. Before that, they have been improving the production process and using higher quality raw materials for production. Although they have to pay higher costs, this has brought about Long-term development opportunities.

Improve product quality is the key to the new standards introduced by the European Union. The inspection and quarantine department gives several suggestions to the exporters of plastic kitchen utensils. The first is to actively respond to EU targeted bills and improve product quality. Through strict inspection and inspection of raw materials and inspection of finished products, the inspection of sensitive raw materials such as melamine and nylon is strengthened to ensure the quality and safety of the product. The second is to strengthen direct communication with customers, master the dynamics of foreign laws and regulations, timely prepare relevant export products for qualified reports and documentation, and at the same time strengthen raw material inspection and finished product testing for raw materials that may have risks. The third is to continuously improve internal management, and gradually implement the ISO9001 quality management system, and constantly improve the construction of production specifications, and fundamentally improve product quality assurance capabilities to deal with increasingly strict foreign technical trade barriers, and achieve long-term development of the company.

Dong Jinshi believes that in order to cope with the impact of the new standards, exporting companies should maintain contact with EU traders and obtain more relevant EU standards information in order to prepare in advance. At the same time, companies should strengthen quality management and comply with industry standards. He also believes that industry associations should strengthen management and raise the level of industry standards, while the government should make efforts to align with international standards in inspection standards.