Affected by factors such as the tension in China-US relations and China’s economic slowdown, the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai released the latest survey on the 19th, showing the optimism of American companies in China about the prospects of doing business in China Is. Over the next five years it has fallen from the previous year to a 24-year low. 3%.
According tohong kongThe Economic Daily reported that the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai reported that a survey report after interviewing 325 American companies in June this year showed that only 52% of the companies surveyed said they were optimistic about China’s business prospects in the next Were at least a little optimistic about it. Over five years, a 3% decrease from the previous year. percentage point, the lowest level of optimism since the Chamber of Commerce began surveying members in 1999. In 2021 this ratio is up to 78%.
The report noted that geopolitics remains a major concern for many companies. “Concerns about geopolitics, China-US relations and China’s poor economy are outweighing expectations.” Compared with the situation during US-China trade in 2019, more companies surveyed said the outlook was “somewhat pessimistic or worse”.
Concerns about the transparency of China’s regulatory environment are also growing, with a third of respondents saying policies and regulations for foreign companies have worsened in the past year. Sixty percent of US companies in China list Sino-US tensions as their top business challenge, which is similar to the proportion of companies surveyed who believe China’s economic slowdown is their biggest challenge.
Of those, about 68% of companies surveyed said they made profits last year, a proportion that reached a new low since the survey began. Only 37% of companies surveyed saw an increase in operating profit margins over the past year, the lowest level since 2008.
Additionally, nearly one-fifth of respondents said they were considering moving some of their existing businesses out of China in the next few years.Southeast Asia﹑The United States and Mexico are potential destinations for American companies, indicating that the primary reason for foreign business outflows from China is uncertainty in US-China relations.
However, although most US companies in China have relatively low expectations for future profitability, 40% of companies surveyed expect revenue growth to exceed global growth over the next three to five years. Nearly one-third of companies Said they planned to expand their presence in China this yearinvestThe ratio increased slightly from last year.
In addition, the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce believes that Beijing’s series of recent measures are also beneficial to foreign companies, including the expansion of preferential tax policies for foreigners and the Chinese State Council’s 24- One-point planning is included.
Separately, the Hong Kong Economic Journal quoted Sean Stein, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, as saying that the above investigation was conducted ahead of US Commerce Secretary Raimondo’s visit to China. He believes that since then, American business companies in China have begun to re-evaluate whether they feel that China-US relations cannot avoid a continued decline, it is too pessimistic. Among them, 40% of companies are currently adjusting or seeking to adjust their original investment direction in China, and the most important ones will be shifted to Southeast Asia, and this proportion will exceed 34% in 2022.
Focus(TagstoTranslate)Investment(T)Southeast Asia(T)Hong Kong
