The development of e-commerce online shopping has also failed to make fake oil converge. In the first half of 2020 alone, more than ten cases of fake engine oil were solved. Why are fakes that should have been hidden in the dark repeatedly banned? Even in formal channels, it is open for sale?
◆? "Black Business" in Small Workshops
Huge profits are the core power of fake engine oil. A simple workshop and a few dirty machines can produce products worth millions or even hundreds of millions. Fake engine oil is very profitable, but no one seems to know exactly how much it earns.
Engine oil products include three parts: base oil, additives and packaging. How much money a can of fake engine oil can earn depends on how low the cost of these three pieces can be reduced. In terms of production technology, it is not difficult to make engine oil, but it is difficult to make engine oil well, which gives counterfeiters a lot of space.
Base oil is the "basic material" of engine oil. Generally speaking, mineral oil, total synthesis and PAO all refer to base oil types. A good can of engine oil must first have a good base oil.
There are many engine oil enterprises, but most of them do not have the production capacity of base oil. Base oil is a derivative of petroleum industry, generally refined from crude oil or synthesized from natural gas. Besides Mobil, Shell, Castrol, Great Wall and Kunlun, they are oil giants themselves. Most enterprises can only rely on procurement.
China is a big importer of base oil, and its annual import of base oil is more than 10 times of its export. According to customs statistics, from June 20438 to May 2020, China imported 969,800 tons of base oil. The export volume is only 850,000 tons. The total import value is 633 million US dollars (about 4.463 billion yuan), with an average of about 4,600 yuan per ton.
From China, the price is similar. China Lubricating Oil Network shows that the price of150n (Ⅱ) base oil (a second-class base oil) is between 4,000 and 7,000 yuan per ton. The purchase price of three high-end base oils and PAO synthetic base oils is about RMB-30,000 per ton/kloc-0.
Some counterfeiters, in order to further reduce costs, will choose unknown channels such as waste oil recovery and oil smuggling. 20 19 The suspect in a fake engine oil case uncovered in Zengcheng, Guangzhou confessed that the cost of one ton of "bottom material" was less than that of 600 yuan by refining waste engine oil.
Additives are the "seasoning" of engine oil. In engine oil, the content of additives is usually between 1%-25%. Base oil determines the viscosity, pour point (low temperature fluidity) and other physical properties of engine oil; Additives give engine oil "special abilities", such as cleaning and oxidation resistance. Additives are the "secret recipe" of good engine oil.
Additives that can be used in engine oil include dispersants, detergents, antioxidants and viscosity index improvers. Most enterprises do not have the production capacity of additives. Additives are the "chip" of engine oil, which involves the synthesis of substances at the molecular level. The synthesis technology of some additives is difficult.
At present, the global additive market consists of Lubrizol, Infineon and Chevron. Oronite) and Afton (Afton) are the four giants, accounting for about 85% of the global market share. Hairun, PetroChina Lanzhou, Jinzhou Petrochemical and other domestic enterprises also have the production capacity of additives, but most of them are single doses, and some key technologies still have no breakthrough. According to customs statistics, in 20 18, the market size of engine oil additives in China was about 167 billion yuan, of which 72% was imported.
Depending on the formula, the cost of high-end engine oil and low-end engine oil and additives may differ by several tens of yuan. The purchase price of additives is generally around 50,000 yuan per ton. In order to save money, fake engine oil may be added less or not. A fake engine oil manufacturer in Zhaoqing, Guangdong Province said that it is not necessary to calculate the price of additives. Mobil, Harvest, Shell, whatever you want, he will adjust it. "We can make SN-class 5W-40, and several customers in Guangzhou get the goods from me."
Fake engine oil, the packaging cost may be higher than engine oil. Some fake engine oil manufacturers said that because "Meijia Shell" updated its packaging, the technology has not kept up now; Coupled with "strict investigation", several packaging factories in Guangzhou have temporarily stopped doing it.
In order to prevent counterfeiting, "Meijiake" has been upgrading its anti-counterfeiting technology. For example, the latest packaging of fruit shells adopts multiple means such as 3D stereoscopic lighting effect, four-dimensional holographic pattern and double-layer anti-counterfeiting QR code, which makes the cost and difficulty of counterfeiting continue to rise. A packaging factory in Guangzhou said that they still have goods there, but the price is relatively high: Castrol Jinjiahu 42 yuan/piece; Mobil Subba 62 yuan/piece.
A 4L bottle of engine oil weighs about 3.6kg, and one ton of raw materials can fill 287 barrels. According to this estimation, if we make a high imitation Mobil Suba 1000, 5W-30 engine oil, the cost of base oil is about 13.6 yuan, the cost of additives is about 26 yuan, and the total cost is about10/.6 yuan.
Mobil official flagship store, the product price is 268 yuan, and the gross profit margin is close to 164%. Real counterfeiters will only have lower costs. Low difficulty and high profit make engine oil counterfeiting a hot topic.
◆? Formal channels are also "polluted"?
In the circulation, fake engine oil is more concealed. Online channels that are difficult to distinguish between true and false, and auto parts malls that are mixed with dragons and dragons are all the soil for the breeding of fake oil. There is even a view that formal channels are also selling fakes.
Some media reported that "at present, more than 70% of the' American carapace' circulating in the market is fake. Even some officially authorized dealers are selling real goods and fakes. "
According to this view, the "wealth code" of oil merchants is because the profit of real oil channels is not high, and the true and false are mixed and sold. A number of industry insiders said in an interview that there is indeed a risk of counterfeit goods flowing into formal channels, but the scale and proportion cannot be evaluated.
Sun Xiao, the channel manager of the car, said that the profit of "Meijia Shell" dealers is generally 15%-30%. In contrast, the profits of some domestic brands are higher, basically above 100%.
A car dealer who has worked for many years showed us a price list. He took the goods from the agent, and the 4L package was beautiful and elegant, with a shell. The gross profit of the genuine piece was about 100 yuan. However, he also said that with the store and labor costs, the profit of genuine engine oil is really not high.
If you buy fake goods, the cost will be 30%-50% lower than the wholesale price of genuine goods. The repair shop uses fake engine oil. If it is a high imitation fake, the average consumer can't see it. With high income and low risk, fake engine oil has become the choice of some operators.
But in general, formal channels are still the most effective means to avoid counterfeit goods. Formal channels, such as large-scale e-commerce platforms and offline supermarket chains, pay attention to the long-term development of brands, and the opportunity cost and legal risk of selling fakes are high. These enterprises will not take the initiative to sell fakes.
Fiona Fang, the company's senior manager of automobile purchase and sale, said that in order to prevent counterfeit goods, the company has established direct cooperation with Shell, Mobil and other manufacturers, and launched a "one thing, one yard" traceability system, which has increased the barriers to prevent counterfeit goods.
Official channels are more likely to sell fakes, but the "official channels" themselves are fake. A merchant in Shenzhen claims to be an authorized dealer in the United States, Canada and Shell, and can deliver goods directly from the factory. However, Shell official said that it will not deliver goods directly to consumers. This person can't be found in the list of authorized dealers of Castrol. Such a channel will naturally buy fakes with a high probability.
In recent years, the proportion of online channels has become higher and higher, but online is not a panacea to prevent counterfeit goods. Sometimes, online channels make it easier for fake oil to circulate.
Every e-commerce platform, you can find a lot of the same paragraph, but the price is far lower than the oil of the official flagship store. With Shell Heineken HX7? Take 5W-40 and 4L for example, the price of the same product in Shell Tmall flagship store is 398 yuan; In another store, the price is only 199 yuan. Whether this kind of oil is genuine or not, the answer is self-evident.
Rational consumers may not buy these goods. People with ulterior motives, using online channels, are more likely to buy fakes and easily change hands to earn high profits.
◆? How to eradicate the "soil" of fraud
As a commodity, fake engine oil can be called "perfect": the cost is not high, the profit is not low, the difficulty is not great, and the risk is very small. Whether it's fake or not, it's a "good deal."
For consumers, the biggest problem with fake engine oil is that you can't know how low its lower limit is. Genuine engine oil is maintained once every 65,438+00,000 kilometers, while fake engine oil may only run for 3,000 kilometers. If it is extracted from waste oil, it is more harmful to the engine.
Now fake engine oil and fake "A goods" have become the mainstream, one or two thousand kilometers, and perhaps the owners are unaware of the difference. This is like a chronic disease, the harm is slow and profound. The golden engine oil rushes between gears, and the dark carbon deposits a little bit; Only when the engine is abnormal and worn will you realize "xx, I bought fake engine oil".
The more chronic the disease is, the more difficult it is to cure. Fake engine oil not only harms the interests of consumers, but also distorts the engine oil industry. Rome was not built in a day. The problem of fake engine oil cannot be solved in one day. Fundamentally speaking, the proliferation of domestic fake engine oil is related to the weak technology of domestic engine oil. As a result, the pricing power of products is dominated by foreign giants, which makes the overall price of the engine oil industry remain high and gives counterfeiters huge profit margins.
Therefore, the first problem to be solved is to break the technical barriers of engine oil and reduce the overall price. Just like before Xiaomi mobile phone appeared, domestic mobile phone shanzhai flooded. When the cottage products have no profit, they will naturally gradually withdraw.
Breaking technical barriers mainly includes two parts, one is additives, and the other is technical standards. Jin, a senior engineer in lubricating oil testing, gave an example. After domestic independent production of an additive, the price is directly reduced from 80,000 yuan per ton to 40,000 yuan. The proportion of additives in engine oil is not high, but the cost is not low; If there is no domestic substitute, the price will remain high.
At present, the technical standards of engine oil are dominated by American API (api gravity) and European ACEA (European Automobile Manufacturers Association). Some domestic enterprises, after registering their trademarks abroad and obtaining European and American certification, in turn sell them at high prices in China. This is the market chaos caused by the weak domestic engine oil technology.
It is not easy to break technical barriers in a short time. In terms of additives, foreign giants have a history of hundreds of years and it is difficult to catch up in the short term; The oil standard is closely related to the engine. If engine technology cannot be broken through, it will be difficult to master the right to speak of engine oil standards.
Technology upgrading is a long-term task. In the short term, the control of fake engine oil still depends on supervision. China's automobile aftermarket has always been characterized by "scattered, chaotic and small", and the links of making and selling fakes are hidden and scattered, which objectively increases the difficulty of cracking down. Therefore, it is difficult to carry out comprehensive management in the production process.
In contrast, strengthening the management of circulation links may be more likely to produce results. On the one hand, the formal channels are relatively concentrated, ensuring that there are no fakes in these channels, and consumers can buy with confidence, which will compress the fake engine oil market; On the other hand, it is necessary to give full play to the power of consumer supervision, establish clear complaint channels and compensation mechanisms, and form a shock to counterfeiting and selling fakes.
◆? label
It's really not easy to control fake oil. If we don't start with "soil", harmful "weeds" will never be eliminated. In 2020, China will soon surpass the United States in car ownership and become the world's largest car country; However, the chaotic situation of engine oil and after-sales market does not match the development of automobile market. How to make car owners use safe engine oil is really not a trivial matter. (Text/car home? Jiang)