The government has introduced a series of policies to support tire manufacturers.

　　2018 is drawing to a close. Many in the tire industry sigh, saying that the past year has been far from easy.

　　This year, influenced by a variety of factors, domestic tire manufacturers have faced severe challenges, leaving them to exhaust every possible effort in order to survive and thrive.

　　Meanwhile, local governments have introduced a range of “market‑stabilizing” policies to ensure the long-term, stable development of enterprises and alleviate economic pressures.

　　Promote the high-end development of the tire industry.

　　On October 29, Shandong Province issued the “Implementation Plan for Accelerating High-Quality Development in Seven Major High-Energy-Consuming Industries,” aiming to further promote the transformation and upgrading of the tire industry.

　　The local government aims that, by 2020, Shandong’s overall tire production capacity will remain broadly unchanged, and that four tire companies will achieve annual sales revenues exceeding RMB 10 billion.

　　At the same time, they will also rank tire manufacturers based on indicators such as energy consumption, profitability, per-mu contribution, technological assessment, and quality standards, thereby promoting a process of survival of the fittest within the industry.

　　To advance the high-end development of the tire industry, the local government has left no stone unturned.

　　Industry insiders say that tire manufacturers that survive this major industry reshuffle will weather the “painful transition period” and move directly onto a path of high-quality development.

　　Localities are rectifying chemical industrial parks.

　　Against the backdrop of environmental protection, local governments have successively launched initiatives to rectify chemical industrial parks.

　　In March 2018, Shandong Province Vice Governor Wang Shujian stated that the province aims to reduce the number of chemical industrial parks to fewer than 100 and shut down an additional 20% of existing facilities.

　　In June, September, and October, Shandong Province released the list of chemical industrial parks in three batches.

　　The coastal chemical industrial parks (concentration zones) in Jiangsu Province also began disposal operations in June.

　　All chemical industrial parks within the jurisdictions of Nantong, Lianyungang, and Yancheng cities in the province have been placed on the disposal list.

　　Recently, locating within chemical industrial parks has become the choice of many tire manufacturers.

　　These companies believe that once they are located within a chemical industrial park, they will no longer face closure.

　　According to reports, after relocating to the restructured chemical park, these companies have now come under its protective umbrella.

　　Production cuts are no longer “one-size-fits-all.”

　　In early November, multiple provinces and municipalities—including Shandong, Jiangsu, Shanxi, Hebei, and Tianjin—announced details of staggered production schedules for the heating season.

　　Avoiding a one-size-fits-all approach to environmental protection has become a consensus among environmental agencies nationwide.

　　Compared with last year, when tire manufacturers were shut down across the board, since 2018 their operating rates have not shown any significant decline during the heating season.

　　Shandong Province’s environmental protection authorities stated that cities may, based on air quality conditions, appropriately extend or shorten staggered production schedules, and benchmark enterprises meeting stringent environmental standards will be exempt from production restrictions.

　　Export tax rebates benefit businesses.

　　Effective November 1, the export tax rebate rate for 22 types of tire products has been increased from 9% to 13%.

　　Affected by Sino-U.S. trade tensions, external demand has continued to weaken, and China’s tire export performance remains pessimistic.

　　It is reported that Jiangsu General Technology Co., Ltd. has benefited from export tax rebate incentives, resulting in an increase of over RMB 15 million in export tax refunds.

　　Of course, some enterprises also believe that the benefits of export tax rebates are limited.

　　According to reports, their processing‑trade operations account for a substantial share of their business, and they have exhausted all available export tax rebates.

　　Vigorously address the difficulty of obtaining financing.

　　On November 1, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, President of the People’s Republic of China, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, presided over a symposium on private enterprises and delivered an important speech.

　　Xi Jinping pointed out that it is necessary to ease the burden on enterprises and reduce their costs.

　　Since then, local governments, in response to the call, have continuously introduced measures to ease the burden on businesses in areas such as electricity consumption, financing, logistics, taxes and fees, and institutional transaction costs.

　　Most importantly, we are committed to helping tire companies overcome financing challenges.

　　In 2018, the Shandong Provincial Tax Service and financial institutions vigorously promoted “bank–tax cooperation,” jointly issuing a total of 38,500 loans amounting to RMB 60.9 billion.

　　In addition, the People’s Bank of China and relevant authorities have introduced a series of measures to strictly prohibit arbitrary loan curtailment or suspension.

　　It is foreseeable that, in the years ahead, tax cuts and burden reduction will remain a top priority for governments at all levels.

　　A ten-billion-yuan fund helps tide over difficulties.

　　To vigorously boost the development of the private sector, provinces and municipalities including Shandong, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and Anhui have each established multi-billion‑yuan funds to provide support to private enterprises.

　　On November 15, Shandong Province established a capital market relief fund with a total scale of RMB 10 billion to help private enterprises overcome financial difficulties.

　　On November 27, Jiangxi Province established a state‑owned capital innovation and development fund to support private enterprises.

　　During the same period, Anhui also established a relief and rescue fund for private enterprises with a scale exceeding RMB 10 billion, providing necessary financial assistance to key private firms.

　　According to analysts, the establishment of multi-billion‑yuan funds by various provinces can directly mitigate liquidity risks for listed‑company shareholders and foster the sound development of promising private enterprises.

　　(This article is original to Tire World Network. Please cite the source when reprinting: Tire World Network.)