Gyeonggi-do Prepares Measures to Minimize 'Corporate Damage' from China's Lockdown

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province is preparing countermeasures related to the prolonged COVID-19 lockdown measures in major Chinese cities such as Shanghai.

On the 16th, Gyeonggi Province held the "Export Response Meeting on the Prolonged COVID-19 Lockdown Measures in Major Chinese Cities" at the Suwon Convention Center and announced on the 17th that it would establish countermeasures to understand the local situation in China and minimize corporate damages.

In particular, on that day, the province connected five Gyeonggi Business Centers (GBC) in Shanghai, Shenyang, Guangzhou, Chongqing, and Yanbian, as well as the Gangwon Province China Headquarters (Beijing), via video conference to check the local atmosphere and corporate trends due to the lockdown policies.

Earlier, through the Gyeonggi Export Difficulty Integrated Support Center, the province surveyed about 32,600 export companies in the province from the 2nd to the 11th regarding difficulties caused by the current situation, receiving reports of damages such as ▲logistics cost issues (14 cases) ▲export suspension or reduction (6 cases) ▲production suspension (4 cases).

Also, the Corporate SOS Support Center conducted a survey from the 2nd to the 9th targeting about 20,000 EasyBiz member companies, with 53 companies responding that they had suffered damages.

The main damage cases included delivery and production operation (28 cases), raw material supply (27 cases), business partners (22 cases), and logistics (16 cases).

Accordingly, the province plans to continuously monitor the local situation centered on the five local GBCs, and provide companies with information on COVID-19 and buyer trends, market information, and policies and projects related to logistics and customs clearance difficulties.

Furthermore, it will support discovering potential buyers through local networks and provide non-face-to-face export consultation services via online video conferencing.

To establish rapid countermeasures, consultation channels such as the Gyeonggi FTA Center will be activated, and if necessary, government projects (such as the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' logistics-only export voucher) and various provincial import-export support projects will be linked to help companies facing difficulties in logistics and customs clearance.

In particular, by strengthening the role of the GBCs, alternatives such as devising detour methods for import and export will be prepared, and in the long term, the province will actively consider logistics cost support projects for small and medium-sized enterprises at the provincial level.

A provincial official emphasized, "Amid the global economic crisis, Gyeonggi Province will prepare measures it can take to support logistics cost assistance and alternative buyer discovery desired by local companies, and will also consider corporate support through cooperation with Chinese local governments with which sisterhood and friendly relations have been established."