Most companies have no plans to relocate their supply chains, survey shows
The majority of US companies surveyed are optimistic on China's business outlook for the next two years, while many believe that succeeding in China is vital to their long-term global competitiveness, according to survey results released by the American Chamber of Commerce in China on Wednesday.
The survey, conducted between April 18 and 20, found China's business outlook to be more promising compared with the results of its previous survey published in early March. Thanks to the country's fast economic recovery, 59 percent of the respondents reported a positive outlook, an increase of 22 percentage points compared with the previous results.
About 73 percent of the respondents have no plans to relocate their supply chains, even though bilateral tensions continue to pose a significant business challenge for them, according to the survey, which drew responses from 109 companies with operations throughout China.
Colm Rafferty, chairman of AmCham China, said that China remains an important and vibrant market for US companies, given its size as the world's second-largest economy, with domestic consumption increasingly driven by the sizable and affluent middle-income group.
The survey found that the Yangtze River Delta region, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, as well as the Hainan Free Trade Port, are the most attractive locations for planned investment by US companies.
"China remains the elevator industry's largest new equipment market, with substantial opportunities for service businesses. The country is a very strong long-term market for many US businesses, with continuing urbanization, infrastructure building and urban renewal," said Judy Marks, chairwoman, president and CEO of Otis Worldwide Corp, the Connecticut-based elevator manufacturer.
AmCham China's survey also found that the deteriorating China-US relations have presented the most pressing concerns for US companies operating in China, with pessimistic sentiment growing in recent months.
Their views on the bilateral relationship have worsened, with the percentage of respondents expressing a pessimistic opinion increasing from 73 percent in the chamber's previous survey to 87 percent in this survey.
Healthy economic and trade ties can create more opportunities for collaboration between US and Chinese companies in the years ahead, particularly in the areas of healthcare, agriculture and automobile manufacturing, said Sang Baichuan, dean of the Institute of International Economy at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.
Wang Linjie, spokeswoman for the Beijing-based China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said that global companies, attracted by China's economic outlook and consumer market potential, will remain resolute about increasing investment in the country in the coming years.
The CCPIT conducted a survey recently involving over 550 foreign-invested enterprises, and about 92.4 percent of the respondents said that China's position in their global investment decisions has not diminished.
During a news conference in Beijing on Wednesday, Gan Lin, deputy head of the State Administration for Market Regulation, emphasized that the government will continue to intensify the protection of intellectual property rights and create a fairer, more transparent and more predictable business environment for foreign-invested enterprises.
Foreign direct investment in the Chinese mainland, in terms of actual use, rose 4.9 percent year-on-year to 408.45 billion yuan ($59.01 billion) in the first quarter of 2023, data from the Ministry of Commerce shows.
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