German companies are suffering severely from the Chinese government’s corona measures. In a survey by the German Chamber of Foreign Trade presented on Thursday, 73 percent of the participants stated that they operate in cities or regions where there are partial or complete curfews. Only about every fifth German company has a special permit to continue production despite restrictions.
However, these companies also have problems and, according to the survey, can only run at less than half capacity on average. Logistics problems, low availability of staff and uncertainties caused by sudden changes in regulations are the main reasons currently standing in the way of higher production, the chamber said.
According to the survey, around 28 percent of the specialists sent from Germany to China are planning to leave the country because of the strict corona measures. “It will be extremely difficult for German companies to replace these employees with new employees from abroad,” said Maximilian Butek, managing director and board member of the German Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai. The current conditions for German companies in China are “unacceptable”.
After around two years of effective pandemic control, the highly contagious omicron variant is putting the Chinese government’s zero-tolerance policy to the test. Despite the high economic costs, China’s leadership wants to stick to its course, as the Politburo’s Standing Committee had just reaffirmed. (dpa)