Practical exploration of small, medium and micro logistics enterprises: many enterprises suffer losses, it is difficult for drivers to repay loans, and the monthly sales of heavy trucks have been reduced for "13 consecutive years"

Source / Securities Daily (id:wave-biz)





At present, small, medium and micro logistics enterprises are facing the dual pressure of "small supply and high cost". The heavy truck industry, which is in the same industrial chain, has experienced "13 consecutive drops" in monthly sales. A game between industry and cycle and self-help is being staged.

"Both the logistics industry and the heavy truck industry are now at a low point, and how to save themselves has become a problem to be solved." An insider told the Securities Daily.



01




Heavy truck industry chain dilemma to be solved



Recently, the reporter from Securities Daily came to Shandong Quansheng international logistics market in Jinan. The scene of heavy traffic in the past has become much colder now. The reporter saw in the market that the doors of many small logistics companies were closed, and the notice of "lucky house rental" was posted on the doors of some stores.

Chen Wei is the head of a medium-sized logistics company running from Shandong to Xinjiang in the market. He told the reporter of Securities Daily: "we have been in transportation for more than ten years. We have never encountered such a difficult time. In 2020, the company borrowed money to buy 15 natural gas heavy trucks. Unexpectedly, now we are faced with 'the more we do, the more we lose'."

"Now, medium-sized logistics enterprises are gritting their teeth and trying to make ends meet. Many small logistics enterprises like 'mom and pop stores' are unable to survive and close down." Chen Wei said.

Zhang Qiang was originally a truck driver. In order to realize the transformation from a truck driver to a boss, she borrowed nearly 300000 yuan to buy a truck in 2021 by taking the opportunity of "zero down payment". However, changes in the market caught him off guard. "Without the superposition of adverse factors such as fixed supply, increased competitors and rising costs, there is a great pressure on the loan of more than 9000 yuan per month." Zhang Qiang, the truck owner, told the Securities Daily, "truck drivers are unable to drive as usual because of repeated epidemics. At the same time, the reduction of transportation demand of enterprises also makes truck drivers often face the situation of no goods."

The reporter learned that in order to earn money to live and repay the car loan, even if the supply of goods is no matter how small, the road is no matter how difficult, and the cost is high, truck drivers have to continue to pull goods.

The situation of "Zhang Qiang and Chen Wei" is almost a microcosm of China's small, medium and micro logistics enterprises. According to the report of China Federation of logistics and purchasing, there are nearly 600000 legal entities in the transportation, warehousing and postal industries in China, more than 5.8 million self-employed households, and more than 6million logistics related market entities. More than 90% of the legal entities belong to small, medium and micro enterprises.

The survival dilemma of small, medium and micro logistics enterprises appeared as early as 2021. According to the investigation report on the operation of small, medium and micro logistics enterprises released by China logistics and Purchasing Association in May this year, in 2021, more than half of the investigated small, medium and micro logistics enterprises suffered losses, nearly one third of the enterprises' profits were basically flat, and only 18.4% of the enterprises realized profits.

Chen Wei calculated such an account with the reporter of Securities Daily: "When a truck load of goods is transported from Jinan to Urumqi, Xinjiang, the round-trip freight is about 40000 yuan. Previously, a round-trip trip can earn more than 10000 yuan. After the price rise, the cost of fuel alone has increased by 15000 yuan. In addition, the cost of a round-trip has soared to 43000 yuan. In addition, due to the intensification of industrial competition caused by the reduction of orders, the freight has not increased, or even decreased, and the cost of a round-trip will be several thousand yuan Yuan. "

Chen Wei told reporters: "as many local factories have shut down, the supply of goods has also decreased dramatically. In the past three times a month, it would be good to have one."

In the case of most small, medium and micro logistics enterprises losing money, the heavy truck industry in the same industrial chain has also been affected, and the sales volume has declined. According to the latest data of China Automobile Association, the sales volume of heavy trucks in May was 49000, a year-on-year decrease of 69.6%, which is the 13th consecutive month of year-on-year decline in the industry's monthly sales.

"Since the second half of last year, the sales of heavy trucks began to decline." Li long, a heavy truck dealer in Shandong Kuangshan automobile world, told the Securities Daily: "when sales were good in previous years, Jinan could sell about 1000 trucks a month. In April this year, sales dropped sharply to only 100."

For the reasons for the decline in heavy truck sales, insiders believe that on the one hand, the demand was overdrawn before, and on the other hand, it was affected by the recession of the downstream logistics industry.

In an interview with the Securities Daily, zhangxiaorong, President of the deep science and Technology Research Institute, said: "in 2022, truck drivers will face the dilemma of reduced supply, rising oil and gas prices, and falling freight costs. The difficulty in repaying car loans is precisely due to the sharp decline in industry revenue, which also leads to a sharp decline in the sales of new heavy trucks."

Heavy truck dealers are facing a test of survival under the "13 consecutive drops" in monthly sales of heavy trucks. Li Long said, "at present, some big dealers can lose up to 1million yuan a month, and small dealers can also lose more than 100000 yuan a month. If the current situation continues, it will be difficult for dealers to survive in a year and a half."

Not only are dealers suffering, but the whole heavy truck industry chain is suffering from a "cold winter". According to the data of Dongfang fortune choice, the revenue and net profit of 7 heavy truck listed companies, including Dongfeng Motor, fell year-on-year in the first quarter of this year. Similarly, the downstream highway logistics industry is also relatively bleak. In the first quarter of this year, only 2 of the 7 listed highway logistics companies increased their profits and 5 companies declined.



02




Open up new sources of income, reduce expenditure and actively save ourselves



According to the insiders, the heavy truck industry is a highly cyclical industry, which will be affected by environmental protection policies, the overall economic environment and other factors, with great volatility. At present, it is the trough of the heavy truck industry. However, with the development of policies and the recovery of the economy, the prospect of the heavy truck industry is still promising.

Zhongweiping, Secretary General of the commercial vehicle Professional Committee of China Automobile Circulation Association, said that from the historical experience, every change of emission standards will produce significant sales benefits for the original emission standard models, while the market has a great wait-and-see mood for the new emission standard models in the early stage.

In fact, the industry has predicted the decline of the heavy truck market after the national six year switch, and many enterprises have also taken corresponding countermeasures.

Many enterprises have actively laid out overseas markets while stabilizing their domestic market position. It is understood that from January to April this year, the monthly export volume of SINOTRUK heavy trucks was 6022, 6031, 6105 and 6500 respectively, breaking the monthly export sales record for four consecutive months. The company has recently put forward the goal of exporting 80000 heavy trucks this year. This target is 60% higher than that of last year. In addition, Foton Motor and SAIC Hongyan have also made breakthroughs in the international market.

For heavy truck dealers, it is more important to ensure the safety of cash flow by saving expenses. Li Long told the reporter: "last year, we rented a venue of 400000 yuan. When we renewed the lease in April this year, in order to save costs, we returned a venue, saving more than 100000 yuan."

The above industry insiders believe that in the industry's trough period, increasing revenue and reducing expenditure, reducing costs and increasing efficiency are important measures to effectively respond to the impact of the epidemic, enhance the ability to resist risks and activate the endogenous momentum of sustainable development of enterprises.

Yongchang Logistics Manager Wang told the reporter of Securities Daily that during the epidemic period, the impact was effectively reduced by increasing the allocation capacity, improving the transportation efficiency. "Even in the most tense period of the epidemic control, we still have 18 vehicles to send to Shanghai every day to pull the goods to the logistics warehouse near Shanghai, and then the vehicles in Shanghai will pick up the materials."

"It is expected that with the orderly promotion of policies and measures to ensure smooth traffic, production and people's livelihood, the demand of the logistics market is expected to stabilize." The above insiders believe that with the overall improvement of the prevention and control situation in some regions, the logistics industry at the bottom has shown signs of warming up.

In the view of insiders, the worst period of the heavy truck industry may have passed, and the industry leaders have also shown confidence. On June 11, Weichai Power said on the investor interaction platform that with the recovery of logistics and the increase of infrastructure construction, it is expected that the industry demand will gradually improve.



03




Boost the future of the market



In addition to the positive actions of enterprises, the government has issued relevant policies to support the recovery of the industry.

In order to alleviate the problem of loan repayment in the heavy truck industry chain, at the end of May, the executive meeting of the State Council decided that the 90billion yuan commercial truck loan granted by central automobile enterprises should be extended by bank enterprise linkage for half a year.

In this regard, baiwenxi, chief economist of IPG China, believes that the policy can be described as a "timely rain" to alleviate the heavy truck loan repayment crisis and maintain the smooth operation of the logistics system.

An Guangyong, an expert of the credit management committee of the all union mergers and acquisitions Association, said in an interview with the Securities Daily: "the heavy truck industry and the logistics industry have been hit hard at present. Therefore, from the national level, there should be enough efforts to support this group."

A heavy truck dealer disclosed to the reporter of Securities Daily: "many truck loans are loans from financial companies or financial leasing companies of heavy truck enterprises. Therefore, to solve the problem of repayment difficulties of small, medium and micro enterprises, other heavy truck enterprises need to give extended benefits to loan customers."

The reporter found that, following the introduction of the above policies, Foton motors, Shaanxi Automobile heavy truck and other companies have also launched corresponding extension plans or care services to alleviate the problem of truck loan repayment.

Although the deferred repayment policy has won a buffer time for enterprises, it still needs the overall recovery of the industry to completely solve the problem.

Some insiders said that with the improvement of national automobile emission indicators, the heavy truck industry will also transform to green and environmental protection, and there is still room for expansion in the future.

The above-mentioned heavy truck dealers told reporters: "at present, due to the poor market conditions, many national five cars, even the national four cars, which have been running for many years, are still running in large numbers. In the future, these users will be potential customers to replace national six."

However, to replace more environmentally friendly heavy trucks, the cost problem has become a roadblock.

"We still hope that there will be greater support and subsidy policies to encourage old users to replace new cars of the national six." Li Long told reporters that this "stock market" is still very huge. If the market warms up and the policy "combination" is made, it is also expected to promote the sustainable and healthy development of the heavy truck industry.

As a matter of fact, some localities have begun to make efforts in policy. Recently, the reporter learned from Jinan Municipal Bureau of industry and information technology in Shandong Province that in order to accelerate the recovery of the commercial vehicle consumption market, five departments, including Jinan Municipal Bureau of industry and information technology and Jinan Municipal Bureau of finance, jointly formulated the implementation rules. From June 12 to June 30, the purchase of commercial vehicles in Jinan can enjoy automobile consumption subsidies ranging from 3000 yuan to 6000 yuan.

According to the above insiders, from the data, in May 2022, although the overall sales volume of the domestic heavy truck market fell by nearly 70% compared with the previous year, it achieved an increase of 11.4% compared with April, which means that the market has gradually warmed up.

Source / Securities Daily (id:wave-biz)