(10 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Beijing – 10 May 2024
1. Wide of European Chamber of Commerce press conference
2. Close of reporters
3. Mid of officials from the European Chamber of Commerce
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Jens Eskelund, President of the European Chamber:
“We have had 68% of our members telling us that macroeconomic factors, such as weakening demand in China, has had a negative impact on their ability to make money on the Chinese market.”
5. Close of reporters
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Jens Eskelund, President of the European Chamber:
“Seventy one percent of those respondents who are seeing overcapacity, reported to us that they are seeing price decreases and this is sort of the deflationary pressures that you have been reading about in (the) media. Forty two percent – and that’s actually significant, it’s a lot – 42% of our members said that prices have been decreasing significantly.”
7. Mid of officials from the European Chamber of Commerce
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Jens Eskelund, President of the European Chamber:
“When you look at how it is affecting the position of European companies on the Chinese market, we see that 42% of our members, have reported to us that they have been losing market share to domestic competitors, and amongst those three sectors that stand out in particular are pharmaceuticals, IT and telecom and machinery, where more than half of respondents all reported that they have been losing market share to domestic competition.”
9. Close of reporters
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Jens Eskelund, President of the European Chamber:
“The number of respondents who ranked China as a top destination has declined to 15%, when it comes to future investment it is even lower – 13%. But I think, again, we should not lose sight of the fact that we still have, you know, I think more than two thirds of our members who still rank China as a as a top-five destination. So it’s not that that companies are giving up on China, but it’s just that we are beginning to see other countries emerging as a serious competitor to China.”
11. Wide of Jens Eskelund, President of the European Chamber, taking questions
12. Close of reporters
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Jens Eskelund, President of the European Chamber:
“We are looking much more at the composition of the GDP and much less at the headline number. What we want to see really is, you know, consumption becoming the real driver in the Chinese economy rather than fixed assets investment, real estate investment and so on.”
14. Various of conference
STORYLINE:
China is actively seeking foreign investment to boost its slowing growth, but that very sluggishness is weighing on company plans to grow their businesses in the world’s second largest economy, an annual survey of more than 500 European companies has found.
The slowing economy is now the dominant concern of respondents to the European Chamber of Commerce in China survey, which was released on Friday.
China still ranks high as a place to invest, but the share of companies considering an expansion of their operations in the country this year fell to 42%, the lowest ever recorded.
The economic worries are layered on top of long-running complaints about regulations and practices that companies say favour their Chinese competitors or are unclear, creating uncertainty for businesses and their employees.
Others including the American Chamber in China have expressed similar concerns.
Those older issues are now compounded by the weaker economy, eroding business confidence, said Jens Eskelund, the president of the European Chamber.
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