China Focus: German firms confident in Chinese market with continued investments

NANJING, June 17 (Xinhua) -- At an industrial park in the city of Taicang, east China's Jiangsu Province, streamers are introducing investment policies and urban living conditions to German merchants via live video.

The streamers are working staff from Taicang's investment promotion department. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 resurgence, they have begun to use online live streaming to attract foreign investment, and German businessmen have been their main audience.

Taicang, a neighboring city of Shanghai, is dubbed as the "hometown of German enterprises" in China. The small city gathers about 400 German firms including Schaeffler and Brose, which achieved sales revenue of 44.8 billion yuan (about 6.7 billion U.S. dollars) last year, a year-on-year increase of 87.7 percent.

According to Taicang's commerce bureau, all the local-based German companies have resumed work and their production capacity has recovered to more than 90 percent, despite the epidemic earlier this year.

"We have adhered to the principle of 'do not disturb and always respond' to serve enterprises," said Liu Limin, director of the commerce bureau, adding that they offered services like service hotline and free dormitories to German firms and assisted them in logistics as soon as the epidemic waned.

"We have been trying our best to support German companies in maintaining production and stable operations, hoping to minimize the impact of the epidemic to them," Liu said.

The soothing process of resumption of work has boosted German firms' confidence in investing in the Chinese market. In early June this year, four German projects were inked during an online signing ceremony held by Taicang, and the city plans to introduce more than 40 new German projects this year.

Germany's cleaning systems provider Karcher has invested 100 million yuan in the construction of its high-tech research and development center in Jiangsu's Suzhou City.

"Despite the epidemic, we are still fully confident in the Chinese market, and our long-term plans in China will not change," said Tang Xiaodong, president of Karcher Greater China, noting that the firm's resumption of production has been progressing in an orderly manner.

"SIG Combibloc Group has begun to expand its business in China," said Fan Lidong, general manager of the German company in Suzhou, adding that they plan to build more manufacturing factories and increase investment in research and development.

Fan said that since the outbreak of the epidemic, the local government has taken quick actions to help solve problems in fields including logistics and recruitment.

At the end of May this year, German company Merck Group announced that it would invest in building an advanced semiconductor integrated base which includes a manufacturing base, a warehouse and an operation center in the city of Zhangjiagang.

The move is part of Merck's plan to double its investment in China by spending over 1 billion yuan by 2025 on expanding its electronics business. In April this year, the German firm signed a deal to invest about 100 million euros in expanding its manufacturing base of life sciences in the city of Wuxi.

German company Siemens is also optimistic about its development in China. Last year, the company set up the Siemens Electrical Products China headquarters in Suzhou. With the help of local commerce department, the newly-established company solved the logistics problems and successfully weathered the epidemic resurgence.

"Siemens Electrical Products could not have grown to be as strong as it is now without the favorable business environment in Suzhou as well as the mature supply chain ecosystem," said Markus Grabmeier, general manager of Siemens Electrical Products China.

"We are confident to continue our sustainable business development and we will focus on technological innovations to further enhance our strong position in the market and optimally serve our customers in China and beyond," Grabmeier said.