Almost 72 per cent of Chinese SMEs have resumed work amid push to digitise businesses, ministry says

For many small factories and service businesses, the process of returning to normal operations after disruptions from the coronavirus pandemic has been harder

Chinese authorities have been pushing for SMEs to make use of technologies such as remote working and smart manufacturing platforms to resume operations quickly

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Workers pack instant river snail rice noodles at a factory in Liuzhou, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Jan. 2, 2020. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 3:04pm, 26 Mar 2020Updated: 3:10pm, 26 Mar 2020

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China have been resuming work at a faster rate since March with the help of government measures to promote their adoption of technology, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information (MIIT) said in a news conference on Wednesday.

As of Tuesday, 71.7 per cent of SMEs using cloud-based platforms had resumed production, up from 29.6 per cent a month earlier, said Qin Zhihui, deputy director of MIIT’s SME bureau.

Industrial internet platforms, which help to “coordinate production and prevent risks, ensure the integrity and safety of supply chains and give support to key areas which may experience potential work disruptions”, have helped some businesses resume operations, MIIT spokesman Xie Shaofeng said at the same news conference.

“Others used cloud-based computing to help enterprises move their business operations online, promoting remote working, teleconferencing, online training, co-researching and e-commerce,” he added.

For many small factories and service businesses, which account for most employment in China, the process of returning to normal operations has been more difficult than for larger firms. The smaller firms, for example, are often unable to meet virus prevention conditions set by local governments, including having enough facial masks for employees.

In a notice last week, MIIT encouraged SMEs to make use of digital tools such as remote working and smart manufacturing platforms to resume operations as soon as possible, and urged cloud services providers to open up services for SMEs in both services and manufacturing sectors.