SHENZHEN, China : China’s commerce minister told foreign chambers of commerce that Beijing will take tougher measures to protect supply chains and businesses as the groups raised concerns over COVID-19-related disruptions at a meeting on Monday, attendees said on Tuesday.
Domestic and foreign businesses have warned about the impact of China’s COVID-19 controls as it tries to stamp out the highly transmissible Omicron variant, particularly around hard-hit Shanghai, which locked down its 25 million people and brought industry in the city to a near standstill.
At the meeting, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao said China will increase measures to protect supply chains and promised to pass the chambers’ recommendations on to the relevant government departments, Colm Rafferty, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, said in a note seen by Reuters.
China’s commerce ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
While some companies were working in a “closed-loop” system that keeps employees on-site, logistical problems and a lack of workers may compel them to shut down, Maximilian Butek, chief representative at the Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Shanghai said in a Linkedin post on Monday.
“Currently, most of companies cannot have production sites running since they cannot get raw materials delivered and cannot deliver their products to their customers, in- and out-side Shanghai. The logistic in Shanghai is not working,” he said.
Steve Lynch, managing director of the British Chamber of Commerce in China, said his team raised concerns about China’s diminishing attractiveness as an investment destination and a loss of international talent resulting from COVID curbs.
On Monday, manufacturers including Tesla began preparing to reopen their Shanghai plants as China’s most populous city sped up efforts to get back to normal after a nearly three-week COVID shutdown.
Still, most workers will have to live onsite and factories must deal with disrupted supply lines and access to markets, with closures ordered by authorities in other cities and port and trucking problems snarling supply chains.
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