Over 70% of European firms in China review supply chain strategies: survey
The findings show how European firms must maintain a delicate balancing act between China’s tight security and focus on self-reliance
Seven out of every 10 European companies operating in China were reviewing their supply chain strategies amid geopolitical tensions and Beijing’s opaque policymaking, which appears to set back the country’s globalisation efforts, according to a new survey.
According to Carlo Diego D’Andrea, the chamber’s vice-president in China and chair of its Shanghai chapter, security concerns around Chinese products or components made manufacturing in the country unattractive, particularly in so-called strategic sectors.
“We are not seeing companies leave [China], but we are seeing companies shift their [supply chain] strategies and change their management structure,” D’Andrea told reporters in a media briefing on Tuesday. “We do see less investment come to China.”
A growing number of European businesses were setting up two separate supply chain systems – one for China and the other for the rest of the world – to bypass regulatory requirements on data and information technology systems, the chamber said in a report released on Tuesday.
The survey’s findings underscored how European firms must maintain a delicate balancing act between tight security and sharpened focus on self-reliance in China.