Proposal on Strengthening Industry Self-discipline, Resisting "Involutionary" Competition, and Jointly Building a Fair, Orderly, and Sound Industry Ecosystem

Proposal for Strengthening Industry Selfdiscipline, Resisting "Involutionary" Competition, and Jointly Building a Fair, Orderly, and Sound Industry Ecology

To all member units and related enterprises:

Currently, China's printing industry is at a crucial stage of structural upgrading and kinetic energy transformation, with new technologies, business forms, and models continuously emerging, and market vitality continuously being unleashed. However, for some time, the phenomenon of "involutionary" competition, primarily manifested as a disorderly "price war," has become increasingly prominent within the industry. In some areas, product homogeneity is severe, and price competition is fierce, leading to a vicious cycle of lowprice bidding and trading price for volume. Some enterprises, in order to compete for orders, are willing to quote below cost, even reducing configuration and quality, posing a hidden credit crisis.

"Involutionary" competition traps industry enterprises in a lowprice, lowquality, and unprofitable competition, breaking through the boundaries and bottom lines of market competition and disrupting market order. "Involutionary" competition not only severely squeezes the reasonable profit margins of enterprises but also has a significant negative impact on the overall operational quality of the printing industry: on the one hand, the overall profitability of the industry has weakened, with the operating income profit margin of enterprises above designated size falling from 6.8% in 2020 to 5.1% in 2024; on the other hand, the industry's accounts receivable have continued to increase, with the total amount reaching nearly 110 billion yuan at the end of 2020 and nearly 140 billion yuan by the end of 2024. "Involutionary" competition leads to misallocation of industry resources, insufficient innovation motivation, disruption of the industry ecosystem, weakened international competitiveness, and ultimately damages the healthy development of the entire printing industry chain, including supply and demand sides such as printing equipment, printing materials, printing processing, and demanders of printed products, as well as the longterm interests of all parties involved.

Comprehensively rectify the "involutionary" competition relationship and the overall development of the industry. The China Printing and Equipment Industry Association firmly responds to the national decision and deployment to comprehensively rectify the "involutionary" vicious competition, effectively strengthens industry selfdiscipline, and strives to guide the industry back to a rational, orderly, and healthy competition track. We hereby issue the following initiatives to the entire industry:

1. Strictly abide by laws and regulations, and maintain the order of fair competition

Strictly abide by laws and regulations such as the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China, the Pricing Law of the People's Republic of China, the Anti-Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China, and the Bidding Law of the People's Republic of China, adhere to the principle of fair competition, resolutely resist vicious competition that disrupts market order, such as dumping below cost price, false advertising, and malicious bidsnatching, firmly abandon shortsighted behaviors like "trading price for volume" and "drinking poison to quench thirst", and jointly maintain a reasonable price level that conforms to market rules and cost composition. Encourage enterprises to independently and transparently set prices based on real costs, service value, and market supply and demand relationships, ensuring reasonable profits for enterprises and overall value space for the industry. Strictly abide by relevant laws and regulations on intellectual property protection, respect the value of intellectual property, technological innovation, and software research and development, and do not infringe on others' intellectual property rights. Resolutely resist unfair means such as defaming the goodwill of competitors and stealing trade secrets. Strengthen the sharing of industry resources and information among enterprises, jointly address the challenges faced by the industry, and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.

II. Adhere to innovation-driven and value creation, and promote the leapfrogging and upgrading of products and services

Promote the transformation of industry enterprises from "competing on price" to "competing on quality, service, and innovatin", and win market recognition with differentiated, highquality products and professional, highvalueadded services. Continuously improve product performance and stability through digital and intelligent upgrades, process technology innovation, and management optimization. By providing personalized, professional, and diversified highvalueadded service solutions, enhance customer loyalty and establish a good corporate brand image and reputation. Optimize production capacity structure, rationally assess market demand, and avoid blind expansion and homogenization of production capacity investment. Accelerate the transformation towards digitalization, automation, intelligence, and greenification, improve resource utilization efficiency and sustainable development capabilities, and shift from homogenization and low-efficiency competition to high-quality and high-level competition. Actively participate in standardization construction, and lead the highquality development of enterprises with high standards.

III. Strengthen industry self-discipline and establish a collaborative development mechanism

Member enterprises should consciously abide by industry norms and selfregulatory conventions such as the "China Printing and Equipment Industry Convention" and the "Industry Convention of the China Printing and Equipment Industry Association for Promoting the Highquality Development of China's Printing Industry", adhere to business ethics, and strengthen selfrestraint. They should fully leverage the coordination mechanisms and roles of the Council and Standing Council of the China Printing and Equipment Industry Association, establish a coordination mechanism among members to address common issues of irrational competition, and establish negotiation and communication channels and conflict resolution mechanisms for common key issues such as equipment costs, profit margins, payment terms, quality standards, and promotional forms, in order to resolve disputes within the association system as much as possible. For those who violate the conventions, the China Printing and Equipment Industry Association will, depending on the severity of the situation, take measures such as criticism and education, ordering inspections, canceling their participation in association activities, and exposing them to the public. At the same time, it is recommended that relevant administrative departments or judicial departments impose penalties, in an effort to safeguard the reasonable interests of both upstream and downstream industries. In addition, actively explore the construction of a legal service system platform, carry out dispute arbitration, antiunfair competition, quality supervision and inspection, etc. in accordance with laws and regulations, and promote the continuous optimization and overall progress of China's printing industry structure.

IV. Guide rational procurement and jointly build a healthy industrial ecosystem

Currently, some market entities in the printing industry are caught in a vicious competition misconception of "low price priority" in order to compete for shortterm order resources: some purchasers take price as the only screening criterion, ignoring the production qualifications, environmental compliance, and quality control capabilities of suppliers; a few suppliers accept orders at "below cost prices" and subsequently reduce costs by reducing raw material standards, lowering process precision, and compressing service links, which not only leads to uneven quality of printed products and printing equipment but also triggers the industry chaos of "bad money driving out good money"enterprises that operate in compliance, focus on quality, and continue to innovate are squeezed out due to insufficient cost advantages, the living space of small and medium-sized enterprises continues to be compressed, and the entire industry chain will fall into a vicious cycle of "low price and low quality → declining profits → lack of innovation", seriously weakening the core competitiveness of China's printing industry.

To break this dilemma, we call for collaboration between upstream and downstream industries to establish a rational procurement system. The publishing industry, cultural and creative industry, electronic and daily chemical industry, food and beverage industry, home decoration and building materials industry, etc., as the demand procurement parties for printing and packaging enterprises, and printing and packaging enterprises, as the demand procurement parties for printing and packaging equipment and apparatus enterprises, should all establish a "comprehensive value orientation" in procurement: when selecting suppliers, establish a multidimensional evaluation criterion of "qualification review + quality assessment + service capability + cooperation stability". Prioritize selecting enterprises that have passed various authoritative certifications, incorporate quality indicators into core assessments, and consider suppliers' guarantee of delivery cycle, response speed to after-sales issues, and customized service capabilities, to avoid increasing hidden costs such as rework and delays due to the mere pursuit of "low prices". Suppliers should adhere to the "quality bottom line": proactively disclose the composition of production costs and process standards to the procurement parties, refuse "lowprice trap" type quotations, reduce reasonable costs through technological upgrading and process optimization, rather than competing at the expense of sacrificing quality and quality. At the same time, actively establish longterm cooperation mechanisms with procurement parties, enhance cooperation value through stable supply, technological collaboration, and other means, and jointly resist short-term price fluctuation risks.

Only when both upstream and downstream segments of the industry chain jointly abandon the shortterm mindset of "low price is paramount" and shift their procurement behavior from "costoriented" to "valueoriented", can the printing industry escape from the dilemma of internal competition, achieve sustainable development characterized by "quality improvement, technological innovation, reasonable profits, and ecological health", and jointly forge a new and more competitive industry landscape.

Fifth, foster a sense of a community with a shared future and jointly uphold the overseas reputation of "Chinese printing"

Strictly abide by international market rules, respect overseas intellectual property rights, engage in international competition in accordance with laws and regulations, expand overseas markets, foster a sense of a community of shared future where "prosperity is shared and losses are shared", jointly maintain the good market reputation and reasonable price system of "Chinese printing", and enhance overall bargaining power. Firmly oppose vicious competition behaviors such as "dismantling" through mutual slander, malicious price cutting, and noncompliant means to snatch orders, avoid the problem of "internal competition spilling over to the outside", and defend the common interests of "going global" enterprises. Encourage enterprises to strengthen the sharing of international printing market information, standard rules, and strategic coordination, complement each other's advantages, cooperate in developing high valueadded products and valueadded services, and enhance the value position of Chinese printing products and services in the global industrial and supply chains.

We firmly believe that only by abandoning internal competition can we embrace highquality development; only by working together can we achieve longterm prosperity in the industry. We hope that the entire industry will unite and collaborate, actively implement the abovementioned initiatives, strengthen selfdiscipline and coordination, stimulate innovation vitality, unite with consensus, and jointly resist "internal competition" vicious competition with firm determination and practical actions. Together, we will build a fair and orderly industry ecosystem, jointly promote the highquality development of China's printing industry, and move towards a healthier, more rational, and sustainable future!

China Printing and Equipment Industry Association

October 23, 2025

Source: China Printing Industry Association

Company Name: Shaanxi Siwei Printing Co., Ltd

Tel: 84310017 (Office) 84310073 (Business)

Address: No. 56, Fengchan Road, North of Yongguang Gate, Liucunbao, Weiyang District, Xi'an City