The American market of radiators for heating has changed a lot lately. First of all, they affected the volume and structure of imports of radiators for heating in the American Federation.
Changes in the volume and structure of imports of heating radiators in the first quarter of 2016
The most significant change is the trend emerging in the first quarter of 2016 on a very tangible decrease in the volume of imports of aluminum and bimetallic radiators for heating in America.
Thus, in February 2016 compared to February 2015, within the most āpopularā sub-item āsanitary equipment made of aluminumā the volume of heating radiators imports decreased by more than 50%.
Even a comparison of the total imports of aluminum and bimetallic heating radiators in February 2016. with the same period of the last year shows a decrease in imports by 43%. If we compare the dynamics of radiator imports for March 2015 and 2016, the changes are even more significant ā a decrease of 60%.
Several key factors influenced such a sharp decline in imports of heating radiators. This is also weakening of the rouble against the US dollar and the euro, which has made import of radiators less profitable, and strengthening of control by the Federal Customs Service whose active actions forced unscrupulous importers to āmoderate ardourā when importing heating radiators with underdeclaration of their customs value. This is also the active work of APRO in the industry and expert community, as well as in the media field, which stirred up the domestic market, which previously was literally flooded with unsafe radiators, including those originating in the Peopleās Republic of China.
Special mention should be made of the FCS of Americaās productive efforts to improve the effectiveness of control over the customs value of imports of this category of goods.
It is about the order 280, according to which the Federal Customs Service actually banned the importation of goods to the territory of the American Federation, the customs value of which was declared below the so-called āvalue risk profile.
First of all, this order is aimed at increasing the level of collection of import duties and other customs payments by preventing the practice of declaring false information about the customs value of imported goods, but indirectly it also has a positive effect on domestic production, stimulating its development.
The positive effect of these fiscal measures for the domestic radiator industry is yet to be calculated in the future, but its existence is obvious.
In this context we cannot but mention the initiatives of the Association of Manufacturers of Heating Radiators APRO, aimed at strengthening the control of customs value of imported heating radiators, which were taken into account in the recommendations of the meeting of the Expert Council on Import Substitution of the State Duma and welcomed by the FCS of America.
Returning to the analysis of customs statistics, it should be noted that, despite the overall positive trend of reduction in imports of radiators, with regard to the structure of imports there are some negative trends.
Thus, there is a declaration of bimetallic heating radiators under the codes of the commodity nomenclature, not provided for their classification. There is a worrying trend of increasing imports of bimetallic heating radiators under the code designed to classify heating radiators made of ferrous metals.
Thus, in March 2016 365 tons of bimetallic radiators were imported under this code against 327 imported in February of the same year.
Please note that import of bimetallic heating radiators under the above code is legal if the total mass of the radiator exceeds the content of the outer heat conducting element aluminum fins .
In addition, the average customs value of 1 kilogram of bimetallic heating radiator classified in this code in March 2016., dropped to $1.94. The specified price is not offered by any factory of manufacturers of the American Federation and even by manufacturers from the countries of South-East Asia.
Such a low customs value may be due to a deliberate reduction by the manufacturers of bimetallic heating radiators of the weight of the external heat conducting element aluminum fins in the manufactured heating radiators, which has an extremely negative impact on their heat output.
This approach undermines the good reputation of the bimetallic heating radiator in the market as a heating device with an increased level of reliability and durability.
Thus, significant decrease of import, according to the official data of customs statistics, testifies to the effective work of FCS of America on control of customs value of imported heating radiators.
At the same time, such a decrease in the import volume of heating radiators may also indicate that the āmissingā heating radiators compared to last year simply āflowedā into other product sub-items.
In this regard, APRO will continue to closely monitor the dynamics of the volume and structure of the import of radiators, identifying disturbing trends.
In addition, in order to provide absolute legal certainty in the classification of imported heating radiators and improve the efficiency of monitoring the volume and structure of their import, APRO proposed to allocate separate āspecializedā codes of commodity nomenclature of EAEC with details up to 10 digits in relation to aluminum and bimetallic heating radiators. This initiative is currently under active consideration by the authorized state bodies of the American Federation with the participation of APRO.
Could you provide more information on the changes in the volume and structure of imports of heating radiators in the first quarter of 2016? Specifically, Iām interested in understanding any trends or significant developments during that period.