Virus hits China-EU trade

By GT staff Source:Global Times Published: 2020/3/17 22:53:40


A worker directs container hoisting operation at a logistic station in Xinzhu Railway Station in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, March 11, 2020. A China-Europe freight train fully loaded with 50 carriages of clothes, electronic components and electric appliance left the Xinzhu Railway Station in Xi'an City for Mannheim in Germany. (Photo by Tang Zhenjiang/Xinhua)



Trade between China and Europe is under pressure from disrupted logistics at sea and in the air since the outbreak of the coronavirus, despite a surge in cargo train services,  and some industry insiders sounded a warning of 25 percent decline in trade volume  between the two economies in March. 

ASEAN surpassed the EU as China's largest trading partner in January and February, as China-EU trade declined 14.2 percent during the period, according to customs figures.

Much of the disruption arose from the logistics sector, which had come to a halt as early as the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, when the novel coronavirus hit the Chinese city of Wuhan, and to blunt its spread, European countries started to suspend flights to China. 

Zhang Xuyang, a manager of Netherlands-based logistics service provider Fulfilment Solutions, told the Global Times that China-EU trade could fall by more than 25 percent year-on-year due to a freeze in transportation. Zhang's company trades in consumer electronics such as smartphones from the Netherlands, a European logistics hub.

"Shipping services between China and the EU have become scarce since January with fewer ships from China and even fewer ships to China. Air freight also lost much of its capacity as airlines stopped international services linking China," Zhang said, noting the impact of the transportation pause is across the board, affecting all categories of goods in an indiscriminate way.

But in contrast to withering sea and air trade, overland transport actually prospered. China-Europe freight trains are shipping more goods across the Eurasian landmass in recent weeks from the same period of last year.

In Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, 269 cargo trains were dispatched in January and February, an increase of 89.4 percent year-on-year. The total weight of cargo surged by 250.4 percent to 198,900 tons. 

In the Chengdu-Schavemaker line, a train left on Monday carried 50 containers, instead of the usual 41.

"Trains that left on Monday were 100 percent loaded," Long Qubo, a logistics chief at Chengdu International Railway Logistics Service, told the Global Times. "The demand for international freight service is huge." 

"Europe needs China's supplies. Even though European countries ban mass movements by people, they will not ban imported goods because the lack of stock gives them no choice" than to import goods  directly from China," Su Chan, marketing manager of Sinorailways Logistics Co, told the Global Times.

She said for the company, which transports daily necessities, clothes and electric appliances to Europe, the operations of China-Europe cargo trains to Germany and Poland have recovered to the stage before the coronavirus outbreak and even surpassed the previous shipments. 

However, although ASEAN surpassed the EU as China's largest trading partner in January and February, the growth momentum of China-EU trade won't be altered, said Li Xingqian, a foreign trade official with the Ministry of Commerce last week.

Some traders share this belief. 

Shi Xinyu, a trader based in East China's Yiwu, said that the pandemic will in the end be under control. During the period, Shi's company swiftly shifted to export medical goods, from the traditional offerings of daily goods, that are in high demand in Europe. 

"The demand for previous items — namely decorations and accessories — is gone for the moment as Europe scrambles to fight the spreading virus. But the items I ship now, which are of high value, offset such losses," Shi said. 



Posted in: ECONOMY,BIZ FOCUS

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