After the end of the lockdown in Shanghai, it will be some time before the problems for the German economy are resolved. “It will take a few weeks for the logistics to be rebuilt,” said the delegate of German business, Maximilian Butek, in the eastern Chinese port metropolis on Thursday of the German Press Agency. “It may be months before companies in Germany feel anything.”
The restart in China is therefore not that easy either: “The sudden resumption of production will probably lead to delivery bottlenecks and overloads,” said Butek. Containers that got stuck in the world’s largest port in Shanghai first had to be handled. Services that have been put on hold for weeks must also slowly start up again.
German companies in China could slowly resume production after more than two months, but the effects of the lockdown are likely to continue to weigh on the economy – albeit less than in previous months. “Some companies will need until the end of the year to recoup the losses of the past few months,” said Butek. A “slow recovery” of the second largest economy can be expected.
Even if interrupted supply chains are slowly being rebuilt, the issue will not be off the table as long as China sticks to its zero-Covid strategy: “In the future, too, companies will have to plan for short-term lockdown measures to be imposed,” said Butek. Obstacles in logistics between the Chinese provinces initially continued to exist, even if they are expected to be eliminated in the next few weeks.
After two months, the economic and financial center of Shanghai lifted its controversial and sometimes chaotic lockdown on Wednesday, which had led to the interruption of supply chains and was also felt in Germany. The curfews for the 26 million residents have largely been lifted, although some neighborhoods remain under lockdown. shops opened. Public and private transport was also allowed again. The new infections reached the lowest level in three months.
With the arrival of the omicron variant, the most populous country has been fighting the biggest corona wave since the pandemic began more than two years ago. While the rest of the world now tries to live with the virus, China’s leadership is sticking to its zero-Covid goal. Chinese scientists warned that easing without any restrictions could result in 1.5 million deaths in six months, as many old people in China are under-vaccinated. (dpa)