Chinese Exporters Fell Helpless, Orders Plummet

Caixin: 外贸业订单骤降 两周内从招工困难变无工可复

Most foreign trade companies interviewed by Caixin feel helpless: "The European market is completely off fire", "the market is very bad, the world feels paralyzed", "the whole may be more serious than in 2008".

　　On March 16, data released by the Ministry of Commerce stated that the resumption of work of key foreign trade companies across the country showed accelerated recovery. Except for Hubei, 66.7% of key foreign trade companies across the country had a recovery rate of more than 70%. The Ministry of Commerce also reminded that the foreign trade industry may face a reduction in orders.

Remember the bullish argument for China is that their consumers are going to buy all this production instead of Western consumers. If the Chinese want different products and services, they have a lot of malinvestment.

Huang Wei, vice president of Li & Fung Group's Shanghai branch, one of the world's largest apparel import and export companies, told reporters that customer cancellations began in early March and became more intensive by mid-term. More and more orders are expected to be cancelled in the future: " Brands have no confidence in the next batch of development. The styles they are developing should be reduced. The large-scale production orders should be delayed (delayed) or canceled. We are now dealing with such problems every day. Frequency Will get higher and higher. "

Only a month ago, Western buyers were rushing to get goods because they worried about shortages in China. Now they don't want anything:

"Some time ago we were urging us to ship, but now we are not allowed to ship," the head of a jewelry processing factory in Yiwu, mainly engaged in foreign trade, also felt the pressure from early March. From last week to this week, there have been 5% of orders were cancelled. Even orders that were not cancelled are also considering shrinking or delaying shipments: "It has always been normal before. Last week, there was an Italian order that suddenly said no, and there were originally orders for April shipment. Orders are required to be delivered two months later and will be taken in June. "

According to the person in charge, March at the turn of the spring and summer is the peak order in the calendar year. Not only will a large number of orders be released in the spring and summer, but also autumn and winter orders will begin to be booked. 30% to 40% of orders will be gone.

Capital goods companies see the slowdown stretching till the end of Q3:

　Upstream companies felt the crisis earlier. A foreign trade company engaged in the import and export of textile machinery told reporters that according to the current situation in Europe and the Middle East, it is estimated that it can be basically calm until September, so that the order for the whole year will be ruined, even if the fourth quarter is normal, for mechanical and electrical products, Actual implementation will also be delayed until next year, so more than 80% of business will be affected. "

Businesses are optimistic about the domestic market, but are waiting for the recovery:

However, the person in charge of this company believes that although the foreign trade industry is more difficult, employment difficulties will not occur: "Our goal remains the same, or an annual growth rate of 20%. The domestic market has begun to start in the second half of the year, and the pressure is behind."

　　The consensus of the above-mentioned clothing factories and jewelry factories is to stop hiring first. "Of course we will not increase production capacity and then recruit new workers. This is definitely not appropriate."

Sounds like some Chinese companies may try exporting mask kits:

On the other hand, he hopes to take advantage of the epidemic situation to better maintain customer relationships: "Although masks cannot be exported, if some original materials are needed by the original customers, we can also buy them. I think this is also a business opportunity . "

Finally, not everyone is doing nothing. Some are taking the opportunity to move while others are sitting:

　The person in charge of the aforementioned Yiwu Commodity Factory believes that the epidemic situation will not last for long. Therefore, he invested in new projects in the two workshops and plans to work hard in the second half of the year: "It has never been easy to do business for so many years, so (at this moment) It ’s not too difficult. "