It is still too early to measure the impact that the Chinese coronavirus epidemic will have on the world economy. But it already has penalizing consequences for many international companies because of the importance of China, both as a market and as a producing country. State of play of the most affected sectors.
Travel and tourism
Main sector affected for the time being, transport and tourism. China has closed the doors of several of its cities and banned organized trips by its nationals inside the country and abroad, in an attempt to contain the contamination.
Several airlines, including Air France, British Airways, Air Canada, Lufthansa, American, United or Delta, have suspended or will soon suspend their flights to mainland China.
Countries like the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States advise against any travel there. Some such as Singapore or Australia have even banned the entry into their territory of all non-residents arriving from China, and the United States will do the same from Sunday 22H00 GMT. Washington will also impose quarantine on its own nationals who went to Hubei, cradle of the epidemic, in the previous 14 days.
Russia has closed its 4,250 km of land border with China.
Tourist activities are not to be outdone. Disney has closed its amusement parks in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Several cruise lines such as MSC Cruises, Costa Cruises and Royal Caribbean have canceled trips from Chinese ports and refuse to take on passengers who have stayed in China in the past two, if not four weeks.
Consumption
In a China where the epidemic is disrupting distribution networks and where vegetable prices are soaring, some multinationals have had to close all or part of their stores, even if most of the population remains cloistered at home and flees anyway businesses.
Apple announced on Saturday that all of its stores in mainland China will be closed until February 9. Starbucks, for which China is the world’s second largest market, has closed half of its 4,000 outlets in the country.
“Several hundred” McDonald’s restaurants have also kept their doors closed in Hubei province, of which Wuhan, the epicenter of the epidemic, is the capital. 3,000 other restaurants remain open.
Pizza Hut and KFC have also experienced store closings, imposed by their respective Chinese joint ventures.
Finally, after the cancellation of several international sports competitions, including the Alpine Skiing World Cup events, China announced Thursday the postponement of its 2020 football season.
Automobile industry
Wuhan is an industrial city where many international automotive groups have settled.
Present since the 1990s, the French PSA manages three factories there and employs 2,000 employees, including 38 expatriates. The latter were repatriated to France on Friday, and none of them is infected with the virus. The three factories of the group, which should have reopened on February 3, will remain closed until February 14, PSA complying with the instructions of the authorities. They closed on January 24 for the Chinese New Year holidays.
The Japanese Nissan began to repatriate personnel from Wuhan.
The Italian-American Fiat Chrysler, the American General Motors and Ford have put restrictions on their teams.
Tesla electric car pioneer has warned that coronavirus could disrupt the ramp-up of its giant new factory in Shanghai.
Electronic
Taiwanese giant Foxconn, the world’s leading supplier of electronic components and with several production units in Wuhan, will not reopen its Chinese factories until mid-February. “We are able to meet the demands of our customers while preserving the health of our employees,” assured the subcontractor, however.
To take into account the uncertainties, Apple, a large customer of Foxconn, has however given a forecast of turnover for its second quarter wider than usual, even if its boss Tim Cook has assured to have alternative suppliers.
– .
