At the Taipei Plastics Exhibition, the sentiment of the US-China trade war is complicated.
In the short term, executives think it is a good thing. Fengji International Machinery Co., Ltd. sold three injection molding machines to US customers last month, with a total value of 1.6 million US dollars.
Tooling and mold makers also see Sino-US trade war as a positive. Eric Li, the mold maker CNN Plastics Systems Co., Ltd., is the typical answer at the exhibition: 'The trade war gave us a good opportunity to enter the US market.'
But some machinery industry executives think that American buyers are not so powerful in purchasing power when they try to sell to the United States.
The Taipei Plastics Exhibition was held from August 15th to 19th. People interviewed at the scene said that when production engineers consider big purchases, the price is not as important as service, support and long-term cooperation.
They said that they know that large Chinese injection molding machine manufacturers have done a lot of work, established local sales teams, after-sales personnel and technology centers, and such goodwill will not collapse overnight.
The injection molding machine manufacturer in Tainan, Fuqiangxin Machinery Manufacturing Co., Ltd. and the competitor Quanlifa Machinery Co., Ltd. are all leading plastic machine companies in Taiwan. The two companies have factories in mainland China and Taiwan, but the two factories are not in the United States. The market is regarded as a priority market. All-profit sales specialist Jeff Guo said: 'For some Taiwanese press manufacturers, it is an opportunity, but not for us. 'Full sales year sales of 500 injection molding machines.
The key market for Fuqiangxin is Europe, and its distributors are busy establishing sales and support networks throughout the European continent. Hank Wu, the company's sales manager, said that the tariff sledgehammer will hit small Chinese manufacturers, and mainland competitors will operate globally. The assembly base can be moved outside. He pointed out that large companies such as Haitian have already produced injection molding machines in other countries and regions.
Even considering the tariff factor, some Taiwanese companies said they still could not compete with mainland companies in price. Sandy Kuo, deputy general manager of Taichung JUMBO STEEL Machinery Co., Ltd. said: 'Our presses are more than three times the price of mainland companies'. For 33 years, the company has been producing injection molding machines for straw production, supplying Starbucks and McDonald's in the US. Kuo said that for straw manufacturers with such large customers, reliability is always more important than price.
There are also intergenerational separations. Senior industry insiders who have experienced macroeconomic shocks in the past few decades have become more cautious. They have experienced the European debt crisis in recent years, the Great Depression in 2008, the Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998. , even the Black Monday of 1987.
There are many people who have the above experience in the board of the Taiwan Machinery Industry Association.
Alan Wang, president of the Association's Plastics and Rubber Machinery Committee, said: 'In the long run, we believe that trade conflicts will affect investment willingness.'
That is, competitors have different views on the future. Ray Wu, director of the US representative office of Hi-More Robotics in Taoyuan, said: 'The trade war is good for us because it raises the price of Chinese products.'
The small robot manufacturer Tenso Machinery Co., Ltd. (annual sales of about $7 million) is worried about the side effects of the trade war. Ivan Chen, the company's marketing manager, said: 'Many of our products are sold to Chinese car companies, and trade wars may affect them. produce. '