Admission and trucks at Qingdao port, China on February 14, 2019.
Reuters
BEIJING – China has not recovered from the panic of the pandemic coronavirus, industry leaders said in a study by China ‘s Beige Book published Tuesday.
After about a year since Covid-19 first appeared in the Chinese city of Wuhan, about two-thirds of operators surveyed by the third-party company said they do not expect sales, profit and employment to return to 2019 levels to at least three months from now.
China Beige Book conducted more than 3,300 interviews between Nov. 12 and Dec. 11 in their latest quarterly business activity survey.
Credit worries and trade tensions
For the fourth quarter, the China Beige Book found a sharp drop in sales growth for luxury goods, food and clothing compared to the previous quarter.
“Companies in these sub-sectors have identified narrower margins as well as weaker sales volumes and employment growth,” the report said.
That compared to the better performance of car dealers and retailers for furniture and appliances, showing that wealthier families could increase overall spending by spending on items with big tickets, Beige Book noted. fa-near.
Creditors were more concerned about retail businesses. While the rate of loan rejection remained relatively stable among most sectors – around 10% to 20% – the sales industry rate rose to 38% in the fourth quarter, the report said.
Domestic demand is a key part of Beijing’s plan for sustainable economic growth in the coming years. China has been trying to have more confidence in its own consumers for growth, rather than in exports, especially amid growing tensions with major trading partners such as the US
China remains a bright but promising place
In the services sector, China’s Beige Book also found that fourth-quarter gains were not driven by consumers, but by businesses meeting business needs such as telecommunications, shipping and financial services.
Chain restaurants did not see as much growth, while travel did not see any growth and hospitality recorded the weakest revenue, the report said.
Beige Book also pointed out that, in contrast to an increase in exports, China’s imports have stalled since recovering from a first-quarter shock.
The Chinese market remains a clear spot for companies around the world after the country took control of the revolution at home and returned to full growth by the second quarter.
But the recent spread of Covid-19, in the capital Beijing in the past two weeks, as well as the continued spread of the virus abroad have made the pandemic a uncertainty for authorities and businesses. Chinese.
China’s full-year economic data for 2020 is due out on January 18, according to the National Bureau of Statistics website.