MOFCOM Sees 180 Million Chinese Jobs At Risk As PRC Moves To Defend Textile Industry

Image Courtesy of MOFCOM

In a live press conference, spokesman Gao Feng out lined the dangers to the Chinese economy caused by the collapse in global demand due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Imports and exports have shown a certain improvement in March, according to feedback from various regions and industries,” said commerce ministry spokesman Gao Feng on Thursday, with China set to officially release March trade data on Tuesday. “But at the same time, the impact of the global epidemic on the world economy and international trade is gradually emerging.”

Analysts expect only a slight improvement in China’s March exports compared to the previous two months.

 The median forecast of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg showed exports will drop 13.9 per cent in US dollar terms in March from a year earlier compared to the 17.2 per cent drop in the combined figures for

 The ministry, Gao added, will closely follow and evaluate the extent of the pandemic’s effect on China’s foreign trade sector.

For the world’s second largest economy, the grim outlook for global trade has become a mounting headwind, putting 180 million trade-related jobs at risk.

During a meeting of China’s top leadership group on Wednesday, President Xi Jinping said the country must make “ideological and work preparations” to face changes in the external environment “for a relatively long period of time,” according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

China’s imports and exports improved in March after the coronavirus outbreak caused a dramatic collapse in the first two months of 2020, the Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.

But the outlook for China’s exports remained gloomy given the economic damage being done by the continued spread of the virus globally.

Some Chinese exporters, especially textile, apparel and automotive firms have been hit particularly hard by shrinking global demand caused by the pandemic, with export orders delayed or cancelled, the ministry said.

World trade is expected to fall by up to 32 per cent in 2020, the World Trade Organisation predicted on Wednesday, as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to disrupt economic activities and everyday life around the globe.

In response to the global economic outlook, Beijing is stepping up efforts to defend its “bedrock” exports, Gao said, stressing that the government had not placed any restrictions on exports of medical equipment and supplies.