The People's Republic has hardly reported any new corona infections for weeks. People go back to work - but there are still "serious" effects for German companies.
Beijing (AP) - After the flattening of the coronavirus epidemic in China, German companies see an improvement in their situation, but major challenges are still identified. This emerges from a survey among the members of the German Chamber of Commerce in China.
"German companies in China are technically able to produce almost at pre-crisis level," said Maximilian Butek, member of the board of the German Chamber of Commerce in the region, when the study was published.
The results of the March survey showed that the personnel quota, production capacities and internal logistics have normalized for most of those surveyed. However, the actual business activity has hardly been resumed.
"The economic impact on companies is still serious," said the chamber. More than two thirds of the companies surveyed therefore forecast a double-digit decline in sales for the first half of the year. That is 20 percent more than in a survey in February. Most companies are trying to postpone investments or even to cancel them altogether. According to the Chamber, business will probably not return to the pre-crisis level until the beginning of the second half of the year.
With the worldwide spread of the lung disease Covid-19, the challenges for German companies operating in China have shifted. Travel restrictions, for example, are problematic because China is no longer allowing foreigners to enter the country for fear of "imported infections". Travel within the People's Republic is also made difficult by quarantine measures that continue to exist.
Because the virus is now rampant in the rest of the world, the demand for services and products from China is decreasing. There are also disruptions in the global supply chains.
Due to the global economic situation in particular, more stimulus measures in China are desirable, according to Butek. Incentives for consumption or investment could revive the market and stabilize the demand side.
According to the Beijing Statistics Office on Tuesday, the mood among Chinese industrial companies brightened again in March. The manufacturing industry's official purchasing manager index (PMI) jumped from 35.7 to 52 points in March.
Against the background of the coronavirus outbreak, sentiment in China's industry fell to a record low in January and February. The stringent measures against the spread of Covid-19 lung disease had practically brought the Chinese economy to a standstill. However, factories and companies are slowly starting to work again. For weeks now, hardly any new domestic infections with the corona virus have been reported.