China-Europe trade could drop by 25% in March
March 24, 2020 Category China News Round-up, Weekly
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 that the trade volume could decline by 25% in March. ASEAN surpassed the EU as China’s largest trading partner in January and February, as China-EU trade declined 14.2% 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, Manager of Netherlands-based logistics service provider Fulfilment Solutions, told the Global Times that China-EU trade could fall by more than 25% year-on-year due to a freeze in transportation. “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. 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, Sichuan province, 269 cargo trains were dispatched in January and February, an increase of 89.4% year-on-year. The total weight of cargo surged by 250.4% to 198,900 tons. Trains are fully loaded or have additional container carriages attached. “The demand for international freight service is huge,” Long Qubo, Logistics Chief at Chengdu International Railway Logistics Service, told the Global Times.
“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 that 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.
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