China's smart water meter, pre-paid water meter, code water meter in foreign countries

China's smart water meters have not only accounted for one-third of the world's total production, but also export volume has continued to increase in recent years. In 2004, China exported 3,984,180 units of water meters, and the export amounted to US$26.7 million. According to the latest statistics, in the first 11 months of 2005, a total of 5,414,916 units of water meters were exported, a year-on-year increase of 47.9%, and the amount was US$38.2 million, an increase of 56.4% year-on-year. For the future of China's water meter exports, industry experts believe that there is still potential for growth, but there are also some uncertainties.

According to related statistics, over half of the world's 200 countries have no water meter manufacturing industry. In recent years, the demand for global water meters has been increasing every year. In addition to the developed countries, such as Western Europe and North America, the water meter installation standards are in a state of steady and modest increase, and only the expired water meters are eliminated and updated every year. In addition, the demand for water meters has increased significantly in many developing countries, such as South America, South Africa, and parts of Asia. Russia and its neighboring countries; and countries with relatively poor economies, such as Africa, are seeing the rise of the use of pre-paid water meters, which in turn have few smart meter manufacturing. Therefore, experts are still optimistic about the future trend of the water meter market.

Southeast Asia and the Middle East are the earliest and largest areas of China's water meter exports, including Bangladesh, Thailand, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Iran, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Vietnam, Myanmar, and Laos. Most of these countries use small dry magnetic tables, but also volumetric type, such as Sri Lanka, Iran, Nepal and other countries have used positive displacement water meters. This market requires relatively low grades of products, and competition is mainly reflected in the price. Therefore, several large domestic water meter manufacturers have basically withdrawn from this market, mainly due to the competition among small domestic enterprises. Only the Sri Lankan and Iranian markets basically maintain high quality and high prices, and several domestic water meter manufacturers still maintain a good market share here.

In recent years, China's water meters have also opened up a certain market in Europe, mainly including Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, etc. In addition, there are five neighboring countries including Russia, and the largest number of exports is Italy. The European market mainly presents the following features:

1. European countries have higher requirements for the quality of water meters. Imported water meters must pass the EEC certification. They must also comply with national standards, such as the German JIN standard and the British BS standard.

2. The styles of European water meters are mostly dry magnetic, liquid-sealed, single-flow and volumetric. Most of Italy uses liquid-enclosed water meters, and most of the UK use volumetric water meters. Its measurement accuracy level is higher, speed type B or C, volume type C or D.

3. Most of China's smart water meters are exported to Europe in the form of OEMs. The prototypes of exporting production plants are certified by the importing country's agents to the certification body, and then the exported products are marked with the trademarks of the importing country's agents before they can be exported.

4. Russia and other five neighboring countries have low requirements for water meters because they have just started installing water meters for economic accounting in recent years. In addition, these countries have poor economic conditions. For this reason, most of them use inexpensive water meters such as single-flow meters.

China's smart water meter exports to North America are not much, Canada has some, but China has not yet opened the situation of large-diameter water meters exported to the United States market. American water meter styles are: small tables are basically under the open windows and plates, including plate type and rotary piston type, a small amount is the length of the open window speed meter. Currently implementing the AwwA standard, the size of the flow error and various technical indicators and international standards are not the same, but there are strict regulations on copper materials, such as copper content and lead content control indicators. Large table models are turbo-type, duplex type, fire-fighting type, remote type, code type, etc. Each type has its own separate standard, and it is difficult for the water meter to export to the US market in general.

South America is a big market and there is still great potential for China to tap. The main countries that China exports to South America include Brazil, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, and Uruguay. These countries have relatively high quality requirements. For example, Brazil requires small-diameter speedometers to prevent magnetic fluxes, and the measurement accuracy level is Class B. Uruguay requires that the speed-type small-caliber water meter can achieve Class C accuracy.

China's smart water meter exports to Australia are mainly Australia, which is currently the world's most difficult export countries. Most of Australia requires a volumetric water meter with metrological accuracy grades C and D. In addition to products that are certified by that country, exporting companies must obtain certification from the country's national laboratories for export.

The African economy is beginning to take off and water meters are very promising export projects. We hope that companies will pay attention to this emerging market. China's smart water meters currently exported to Africa include Morocco, Egypt, Algeria, Ethiopia, and Zimbabwe. Most of the water meters used in these countries are volumetric and speedy. For countries that were formerly colonial in nature, such as Morocco, they use the volumetric type, the measurement grade is C grade, and the others are the speed type, and the measurement grade is B grade. South Africa is the most economically developed country in Africa, and Zhongan Technology Co., Ltd. has set South Africa this year! .

Increased Export Uncertainties Industry experts believe that there will still be some growth in the export of China's code water meters in 2006, but the rate will not be too high, mainly due to the increase in copper prices. Affected by the rise in global copper prices, China’s copper prices have continued to climb in 2005. Recently, domestic copper prices have been around 28,500 yuan/ton, which has almost doubled from the original. Although the state has taken some measures, the effect is not obvious. It is difficult to predict whether the price of copper will remain stable this year, and most of the water meter cases exported to foreign markets require the use of copper as the material. This will undoubtedly greatly increase the production cost of enterprises and the profit will drop substantially. Some enterprises may therefore reduce their export volume.

In addition, due to the increasing scarcity of global water resources, the measurement requirements for water meters in various countries are also more stringent. In recent years, the quality requirements for water meters in some of China's major export markets are approaching that of industrialized countries. For example, Uruguay's requirements for speed grade C measurement accuracy grades, Australia's requirement for D grades, and improvement of water meter product quality have become an important part of the development of the international market for water meters. one. In particular, the new global water meter standards have just passed. Some of these standards are equivalent to the standards of some developed countries. Although it will take time to implement them in various countries, it means that the threshold of these export markets will gradually increase in the future. Domestic enterprises must pay attention to it. Only by continuously improving quality and improving the level of integration with international standards can they be invincible in the international market. In addition, enterprises should also be able to achieve more varieties and more grades in export products to meet the needs of different countries' markets and to avoid risks.