Source: Global Times
[Global Times reporter Zhao Juezhang Zhang Changyue Global Times special correspondent in Germany Aoki] German Chancellor Scholz started his first visit to China on November 4, and the accompanying German economic delegation also became the focus of international attention. At a time when there are some noises in China-Germany economic and trade relations, this visit undoubtedly conveys the importance that German industry and commerce attach to the Chinese market. According to the information disclosed by German media, the business leaders who visited China with Scholz came from multiple industries, and the companies they represented had revenues of tens of billions of euros in China every year. Relevant experts told the Global Times reporter that these representative German executives visited China with Scholz, proving that any "centrifugal force" that wants to alienate China-Germany economic and trade relations is not as great as the huge attraction brought by China's economic development.
html More than 4,100 companies have applied, 12 have been approved for
"These German business leaders travel to Beijing with Prime Minister Scholz." The German Business Daily recently announced the delegation of senior business leaders from 12 well-known German companies following Scholz to China. Among them, Martin Brudermiller, CEO of German chemical giant BASF , who accompanied former German Chancellor Merkel in 2018, was also on the accompanying list this time. BASF is also one of the largest German companies in China recently. The company recently announced that it will invest 10 billion euros by 2030 to build a new "integrated base" in Zhanjiang City, Guangdong Province, China, which is also BASF's largest single investment ever.
In addition to BASF, many German companies announced that they would "increase their investment" in China before visiting China. During this visit to China, two CEOs from automobile companies attracted much attention - Volkswagen CEO Oliver Bloom and BMW Group Chairman Oliver Zipze . Volkswagen Group recently announced that it plans to invest about 2.4 billion euros to establish an joint venture with Chinese smart chip company Horizon. BMW also revealed that it will invest another RMB 10 billion to expand its investment in battery projects in China.
In addition to the above-mentioned German company executives, the person in charge of Siemens , WACKER Chemical Group, Adidas, baby food manufacturer Xibao , pharmaceutical company Bayer and heating technology company Geo Clima Design are also on the list. According to a previous report by the German Business Daily, more than 100 companies applied for enviable seats on government planes, and 12 were finally approved because China's business has never been as important as it is today. Analysts said that although the number of German business leaders who followed Scholz to visit China this time was not large, they were full of weight. They included representatives from traditional German advantageous industries such as automobiles, chemicals, and manufacturing, as well as emerging biotech companies such as Germany's Byntech (BioNTech), covering key areas and potential industries in China-Germany's economy and trade.
How close are they to the Chinese market?
A reporter from the Global Times sorted out the public data of the above 12 companies and found that some companies' total revenue in China or Greater China in 2021 will reach tens of billions of euros. Chemical giant BASF has one of the highest sales in China. According to the 2021 fiscal year annual report released by BASF, the company's sales to customers in Greater China are about 12 billion euros. At present, Greater China is BASF's second largest market in the world.
In fiscal year 2021, Munich-based WACKER Chemical Group's sales in China hit a record high, reaching 1.79 billion euros, an increase of 75% over 2020. In its official press release, WACKER Chemical Group said that the significant increase in performance is mainly due to the company's strong product portfolio that perfectly fits China's accelerated development towards low-carbon development and the rising prices of most products.
In addition, Volkswagen and BMW, two German auto groups and their joint ventures, delivered more than 4 million cars in China in 2021. Merck , Bayer, Adidas and other companies also sold billions of euros in China or Greater China in fiscal 2021, reaching 2.887 billion, 3.856 billion and 4.6 billion euros respectively.
As some people advocated the "China-Europe Economic and Trade Decoupling Theory", some German corporate executives who visited China with Scholz this time publicly emphasized the importance of economic and trade relations between the two countries.BASF CEO Bruder Miller said in an interview with German media recently that "the upcoming visit is a good signal of willingness to have dialogue with China."
irreplaceable
energy crisis caused by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has caused the bleak economic outlook in Germany. The joint report on autumn economic forecasts released by mainstream German economic research institutions predicts that Germany will fall into recession in the second half of 2022 and early 2023, with annual GDP growth rates of 1.4% and -0.4% in 2022 and 2023 respectively. Since the beginning of this year, some German media and institutions have been constantly clamoring to "decouple" from China. Scholz clearly expressed his support for globalization when attending the Berlin Mechanical Engineering Summit on October 11 this year, and emphasized that "decoupling will be the completely wrong path" and that "trade with many countries, including China." Data shows that German companies are accelerating their investment in China. A report released by the American consulting company Rongding Group in September also showed that Germany is the largest source of investment in European companies in China, with new investment accounting for as much as 46% in 2021.
Cui Hongjian, director of the European Institute of China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times that one of the keys of Scholz's visit to China is the need to jointly confirm the focus of future economic and trade cooperation between the two countries with China. The fields of automobiles, manufacturing and other fields are traditional economic and trade cooperation between China and Germany, and relevant German companies continue to expand their investment in China, which requires China and Germany to provide corresponding policy environments to consolidate cooperation in this regard. Bai Ming, deputy director of the International Market Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce Research Institute, said that anyone who advocates "China-Germany economic and trade decoupling" needs to answer a direct question: Where can German companies lose in China make up for what they have lost in China?
