ABRAHAM TAO ON THE CURRENT SITUATION IN CHINA

COVID-19 has left its mark. This applies to all regions of the world, including China and its many provinces. We have asked Abraham Tao as Managing Director Asia Pacific about his assessment and his current impressions of the situation:

“Since April, the Chinese government has gradually relaxed the control measures over COVID-19 in China and since mid-May people in mainland China, including the city of Wuhan, have been able to travel freely again. In June, all schools and kindergartens resumed normal operations on condition that all students wear masks when teaching in classrooms. However, the government is still calling for caution and so far neither cinemas nor theatres are open. People still have to wear masks when using public transport such as bus, MTR, train or plane.

The economy has been severely affected by the epidemic in China. Besides the government’s anti-epidemic measures, however, the impact on the individual is also extremely strong. To this day, people are still very afraid of becoming infected and many are still not prepared to eat lunch or dinner in restaurants. In my view, it may be a relatively long time before people’s fears and concerns about COVID-19 are allayed. The government has announced appropriate policies and measures to specifically stimulate consumption and the economy.

Conclusion for MBS China: After COVID-19 the requirements for logistic services for PSA products and other pharmaceutical products continue to increase. April and May are normally among the quiet months of the year. But this year everything was different and we could book two very good business months here. Since the end of May, however, the demand for PSA  products has ebbed again. In the meantime, however, most shops have been able to reopen and we can only hope that this will give a boost to normal trade.”