How are APACC members dealing with the Coronavirus and continue to do business in China?

Ann Hong, Director of Asia-Pacific Division & Global Supply Chain at Chrysan Industries, Inc. shared the following:
"When most companies were finally allowed to resume work in Shanghai, where our office is located, after the extended Chinese New Year holiday on February 10, the impact of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) became apparent. In a survey jointly conducted by several organizations, including Beijing and Qinghua University, among 995 small-to-medium-sized enterprises, 34% only have the cash flow to survive for one month.  Some have already announced the closing of business for good. 

Chrysan is open, but many of our peers remain closed, especially those with local factories. We quickly bought masks in Korea and air-shipped them to our office in China. Even with masks, if you are outside of Shanghai in the past 14 days, you are quarantined at home after returning to Shanghai. 

Many OEMs are now asking suppliers to report the virus impact and supply risks. Chrysan, fortunately, has manufacturing operations in Korea, and our products were well stocked ahead of the outbreak in China. Comments from our major OEM include, 'Pure genius to move production to S. Korea. Genius.'

The working-from-home policy has become a critical solution to keep business running during this historical period. Working-from-home allows Chrysan to continue to operate trade business except for some logistic delays.

The long-term effect of the Covid-19 is yet to be seen.  At times it feels like we are trapped in a contagious disease disaster movie, and the whole world is watching!  Maybe there will also be a speedy recovery like after the SARs outbreak years ago, but nothing can be taken for granted.  China is famous for speed, and we pray for a speedy containment of the virus, a finding of a cure, and the development of immunization.  Until then, work from home if you can."

Tracy Furest, Vice President Corporate Communications & Public Relations for Magna International, gave the following statement on Thursday, January 30, 2020.

"Magna is closely monitoring all available information from the World Health Organization, the Center for Disease Control as well as public health authorities in various countries, inside and outside of China. Additionally, our internal Health and Safety team is coordinating information and resources related to the outbreak, with our primary focus on the well-being of our employees. Over the last few days, we have put some measures in place, including:

• On a precautionary basis, a travel ban to China has been implemented.
• Issuing employee health screenings and workplace hygiene measures to our China facilities in provinces where the outbreak has been particularly serious.
• Extending the Chinese New Year holiday at several of our facilities until February 9, 2020, in order to provide additional time for public health authorities to contain the outbreak.
• Taking steps to acquire and ship extra medical supplies to our Chinese operations.

In addition, Magna is donating 3.5 million RMB (approximately $500,000 USD) to assist in the first responders and agencies who are providing onsite support to those in the affected areas."

"The Chinese currency has fallen over 2% the past two weeks.  In currency markets with free-floating currencies, that is not much of a move," says Michael Wahl, Foreign Exchange for PNC Capital markets. "Since the Chinese government still has controls on the renminbi rate, the 2% move is a bit outside the norm especially since the currency had been appreciating since the Phase 1 China-US trade agreement in mid-January.  In terms of business, the renminbi is used in only about 2% of all global currency transactions, and many companies still pay in U.S. Dollars instead of the renminbi, so I have not seen a big fall-off in renminbi activity."

"We are closely monitoring this outbreak and working with our community partners at the CDC, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and local health departments," says Anne Chen, M.D., an infectious diseases physician at Henry Ford Health System. "We are screening patients for any recent travel history to China in the past 14 days, any symptoms consistent with a respiratory illness like fever, coughing and shortness of breath and possible exposure to individuals being evaluated for 2019-n-CoV. We are well-trained to provide safe and effective medical care, and we have infection control measures in place to protect our patients, team members, and visitors."

​Learn more about the Coronavirus on Henry Ford Health Systems website HERE.