China's export hubs rush to save overseas markets

By Wang Cong Source:Global Times Published: 2020/2/18 19:37:54 Last Updated: 2020/2/18 21:41:36

Migrant workers step off the train from Kunming, Southwest China's Yunnan Province arriving at South China's Guangdong Province to return to work on Tuesday. Photo: cnsphoto


China's export-heavy regions in the eastern parts of the country are sparing no efforts in reviving business activities to save the lifeline of their economies and families of manufacturing workers across the country - overseas markets - from the coronavirus epidemic, as they have taken what many call "bold and hardcore" measures to bring back workers to wind up export orders.

Though aggressive efforts from cities in East China's Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces, which include cash incentives for workers from even virus-stricken regions despite nationwide restrictions, still face challenges and even public health risks, they may provide a sound pathway for the rest of the country to pull back the economy from plunging into deeper trouble due to the outbreak, officials and analysts said on Tuesday.

To the delight of many in the country who are still going through a rather darker period amid the epidemic and wondering when businesses can return to normality, Yiwu - a world renowned small commodity export hub located in Zhejiang - announced a series of measures to attract workers from across the country. 

Among other things, the measures include sending buses thousands of kilometers away to places like Southwest China's Yunnan and Guizhou provinces to pick up manufacturing workers and offering $1,000 yuan ($143) and three-day free accommodation for newcomers.

Yiwu's measures stood in stark contrast to extremely restrictive measures still in place in many parts of the country, despite calls from top officials last week for places where the epidemic is not as severe to resume production. Some analysts suggest that only about 30 percent of the country's workforce has returned to their jobs due to both the epidemic itself and related restrictions.

Behind Yiwu's bold measures is rising urgency among officials in Yiwu and other cities in Zhejiang and Jiangsu to save their primary economic sources - overseas markets.


Shanghai Laozihao restaurant, a time-honored restaurant in Yuyuan garden, Shanghai, offers takeout lunch boxes to help people in nearby enterprises and institutions as they returned to work amid the coronavirus outbreak. Photo: cnsphoto

Urgent but confident

"The rush to resume production is about saving the market. We must firmly hold onto our market share, because that is the backbone of Yiwu. We want to send a signal to the outside world that Yiwu can complete orders on time," a government source told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Yiwu's economy, which is among the largest in county-level cities in China, relies heavily on exports, which grew 13.7 percent year-on-year to 286.8 billion yuan in 2019. Export is also a main growth driver for Zhejiang and Jiangsu. Export in Zhejiang and Jiangsu account for about 27 percent of China's total export, which accounted for over 30 percent of its GDP.

There is more than just GDP though - Many families across the country rely heavily on jobs related to the export sector in Zhejiang and Jiangsu.

"If we don't return to work, textile factories in many places like [Northwest China's] Xinjiang [Uygur Autonomous Region] will close down and workers there won't be able to return to their jobs," a government source in Keqiao - a major textile export hub in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, told the Global Times on Tuesday. 

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the city's door is open to workers from even Hubei, the epicenter of the epidemic, if they can prove they have been in quarantine for two weeks and displayed no symptoms.


A cook wearing a protective facemask prepares a meal in Shanghai on Tuesday. Chinese people's daily lives have gradually returned to normal as the outbreak of the novel coronavirus pneumonia outside Hubei Province - the epicenter of the outbreak - has subsided. Photo: AFP


Business closures in Yiwu and Keqiao also have huge implications for the global supply chain and foreign traders. Salman Raha, an Afghan businessman in Yiwu, said that he had almost no business since Chinese New Year due to the epidemic but he said that local officials have also offered help, such as providing a chartered flight for foreign business groups with over 150 people from a single country.  "I'm confident that the difficult times will eventually pass," he told the Global Times on Tuesday. 

Officials in Zhejiang also expressed confidence in their efforts to both combat the epidemic and resume production. "Our confidence is based on the work we have done to fight the epidemic and our ability to keep it under control," said the source in Keqiao.

Both Zhejiang and Jiangsu have invested billions of dollars in efforts to combat the epidemic and used big data and other technologies to track down the virus. On Tuesday, Zhejiang only reported one new confirmed case on Monday and Jiangsu reported three new cases. 

Wang Tao, an independent business analyst based in Zhejiang, said that it is time for the country apart from Hubei to follow Zhejiang and Jiangsu in resuming business. 

"We should pay much more attention to economic issues now… there is no need for big moves likes locking down a city," Wang told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Wang Wenwen and Chi Jingyi contributed to this report 



Posted in: ECONOMY,FOCUS

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