Coronavirus: Southeast Asian supply chains feel the squeeze from Covid-19
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Meanwhile, much of the construction materials in Singapore also come from China. “The tiles, the aluminium, doors, metal work, moulds for precasting … We’re worried we won’t get our supplies because our dependency on the Chinese is significant,” Loo said.
Since the Covid-19 outbreak started in China in late December, Chinese cities have been locked down, with workers stuck in their homes. Factories are slowly limping back into production, but analysts from investment bank Nomura – gauging pollution levels to determine the productivity of factories – estimate that the worker return rate for 15 cities was just 25.6 per cent as of February 19.
In addition, Chinese migrant workers who work in other parts of the world are also unable to return to their host countries as they restrict entry or slap quarantine orders on anyone who has recently travelled to China.