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发帖数: 4796 | 1 Coronavirus: China’s new export restrictions on medical supplies are bad
for business and the world, insiders say
‘We are very sad that we can’t send [medical] gowns to our clients who are
racing to save lives,’ Guangdong factory owner says
Beijing ruled on Wednesday that only firms licensed to sell medical supplies
at home can export them overseas
Saturday, 4 April 2020, 3:00:PM
China’s new restrictions on the export of coronavirus-related medical
supplies deal not only a blow to domestic producers but could leave
countries still battling Covid-19 with a massive shortfall of essential
items, industry insiders said.
Beijing said on Wednesday that only those manufacturers with accreditation
to sell their products within China are allowed to export test kits,
surgical masks, protective gowns, ventilators and infrared thermometers,
regardless of whether they have the quality certificates required to sell in
Europe or the United States.
Companies have described the ruling as unreasonable and appealed for it to
be lifted so they can ship their goods – many of which are now stockpiled
in factories and at ports – to the places where they are most needed.
Meanwhile, foreign buyers are racing to source sufficient stocks from
legitimate Chinese suppliers.
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The rule change came amid growing concerns abroad about the quality of some
Chinese medical products. Spain last week rejected a batch of Covid-19 rapid
test kits made by Shenzhen Bioeasy Biotechnology claiming they were not
sufficiently accurate.
China is the world’s largest producer of face masks and protective gowns,
and as the coronavirus outbreak has been brought under control at home, so
it has been able to export a larger proportion of its output.
As of Saturday, close to 1.1 million people around the world had been
infected with the virus, with the death toll edging towards 59,000.
Several trade groups representing medical device manufacturers in the
provinces of Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, have petitioned their local
governments and customs agencies to allow them to ship their products to
help offset an economic downturn at home, industry insiders said.
The manager of a firm in Jiangsu that produces rapid test kits for Covid-19
said he expected the new export restrictions to cost the business more than
500 million yuan (US$70.3 million).
“It’s not reasonable for the government to stifle nearly a whole industry
merely because of an individual company,” he said.
As the coronavirus began to spread within China, Beijing granted 23 local
test kit manufacturers special licences to sell their goods at home. Under
the new restrictions, those firms can now sell their products overseas,
while those with European or US certification, but not a local licence, no
longer can.
“We support the government in trying to tighten quality controls, but there
are other ways to do it,” said the manager, who asked not to be named
because of the sensitivity of the issue.
“The quality of many producers [that do not have domestic sales licences]
is very good. We’ve already been licensed to sell to the EU and the US,”
he said.
The owner of a company in Guangdong that makes protective medical gowns, who
also asked not to be named, said it would take between three and six months
to get a licence to sell his products in China.
“We are very sad that we can’t send gowns to our clients who are racing to
save lives,” he said.
“Also it should have been a good opportunity to hire workers amid an
overall weak economy in China.”
A lawyer in Hong Kong said he had been close to completing a deal involving
the sale of hundreds of thousands of face masks to the US, when Beijing
introduced the new export ban.
While the rule was “probably for the best in the long run”, it was
restricting people’s ability to get essential supplies to those places
where there was an immediate need, he said.
Chinese factories are working around the clock to meet the global demand for
medical equipment. According to industry figures, more than 15,500 firms
installed production lines for face masks in response to the spread of Covid
-19 outbreak, pushing the country’s daily output to 160 million.
Alex Capri, a visiting senior fellow at the National University of Singapore
Business School, said the shortage of face masks and other medical products
would lead to countries relocating critical industries to lower their
overreliance on China.
Also, the trend of governments ordering factories to make medical supplies
only for domestic sale would distort supply chains, and when the coronavirus
subsided, those chains would be redundant, he said.
China observes a national day of mourning for victims of Covid-19
Lee Yuen Chak, a director of AEM Enterprises, a Hong Kong company that
sources medical equipment for African countries, said buyers should
understand that Beijing was serious about enforcing tighter quality control
measures.
“At this critical juncture, when almost all countries around the world are
looking at China for the supply of critically needed medical supplies,
buyers need to be assured that the Chinese government is not adopting a
laissez faire market attitude,” he said.
Only China had the speed and ability to supply the quantity of medical
supplies required by the rest of the world, he said.
Lee said his firm had tried sourcing products from South Korea, but the east
Asian nation’s production capacity “paled in comparison to China” and
its prices were higher.
“China understands the gravity of its role in combating the worldwide Covid
-19 scourge but it must do so with full responsibility and integrity. The
new rules show it has stepped up to that role,” he said.
Additional reporting by Echo Xie
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Copyright 2020 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights
reserved. | m*********t
发帖数: 1 | 2 本国用，被骂不出口
多出口，被责不合格
卖东西，被说价格贵
做捐献，还说搞外交
控质量，又说卡货源
所以到底该怎么做？ | c******e
发帖数: 1351 | 3 只有死了的印第安人才是好的印第安人
【在 m*********t 的大作中提到】
: 本国用，被骂不出口
: 多出口，被责不合格
: 卖东西，被说价格贵
: 做捐献，还说搞外交
: 控质量，又说卡货源
: 所以到底该怎么做？
| f********g
发帖数: 32 | 4 这帮鸡巴孙子，真难侍候。就是尼玛惯的，等小脸瘪得青紫，就没那么多事了。 | c****o
发帖数: 275 | 5 再死十倍的人可能会老实一点。
: 这帮鸡巴孙子，真难侍候。就是尼玛惯的，等小脸瘪得青紫，就没那么多事了。
【在 f********g 的大作中提到】
: 这帮鸡巴孙子，真难侍候。就是尼玛惯的，等小脸瘪得青紫，就没那么多事了。
| x*********a
发帖数: 1 | 6 哈哈
【在 m*********t 的大作中提到】
: 本国用，被骂不出口
: 多出口，被责不合格
: 卖东西，被说价格贵
: 做捐献，还说搞外交
: 控质量，又说卡货源
: 所以到底该怎么做？
| e*******l
发帖数: 18 | |
|
