China's Major Industrial Enterprises Near Full Production Resumption As Number Of New Cases Dips To Single Figures

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BEIJING, March (Xinhua) -- Over 90 percent of the major industrial enterprises in China's provincial-level regions except for certain areas including Hubei, once the hard-hit province of the novel coronavirus, have resumed work and production thanks to region-specific restoration measures, the top economic planner said Tuesday.

Regions including Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Shandong, Guangxi, and Chongqing almost saw nearly 100 percent of their enterprises back on production, said Meng Wei, a spokeswoman with the National Development and Reform Commission.

Data on electricity use also pointed to highly recovered vitality across sectors.

The nonferrous metals industry saw power use back to the normal level of last year, while the pharmaceutical, textile, chemical and electronic industries saw their electricity use back to 90 percent of the normal level.

For example, all of the 840 major foreign trade firms in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, neighboring Hubei Province which was hit hardest by the coronavirus, have resumed operations, according to a press conference Friday.

Since the virus outbreak, Chongqing has issued a number of preferential policies to stabilize foreign trade and foreign investment, facilitating companies to resume work and production, said Peng Heliang, deputy director of the municipal commission of commerce.

Local authorities have further simplified the process in areas including trade management, customs clearance, logistics and transportation and foreign exchange settlement, Peng said.

According to the official, 840 key foreign trade enterprises in Chongqing, with their import and export volume exceeding more than 10 million yuan (about 1.43 million U.S. dollars) last year, had resumed work and production as of March 12.

The city will continue to promote the coordinated resumption of work of upstream and downstream companies in the industrial chain, supply chain and sales chain, Peng added.

With the implementation of supporting measures, Chongqing's foreign trade will maintain a positive trend in the long term, said Li Yu, deputy director of the Chongqing Customs.

Now, the import and export activities of enterprises in the city have resumed rapidly, with the number of customs declarations returning to 80 percent of last year's average in early March, Li added.

Supported by the government's policies, nearly all major foreign trade firms in provincial regions have resumed production so far.