Virus won’t affect UAE, China trade for now
dubai — Coronavirus won’t affect trade between the GCC and China, but signs of any impact would appear only in the next quarter, say port operators and global cargo companies.
“It’s yet to be seen what really is going to happen due to coronavirus but so far, from a regional perspective, we haven’t seen any significant impact in trade between the GCC and China,” said Morten Berg Thomsen, head of special cargo for West and Central Asia at Maersk.
“Over the next couple of weeks, we might start to see something happening but so far numbers are shaping up good,” he said on the sidelines of Breakbulk Middle East 2020 exhibition.
This year has started well, according to Thomsen, from the real trade perspective with growth seen across India, GCC and Middle East regions.
“We are overall seeing high demand on dry cargo and logistics sides. Not just India, but entire regions including GCC, Middle East are growing. In the UAE, we started to see things slowing down a little bit in Q3 and Q4 because of credit crunch… but we are still seeing the UAE as a growth market,” he added.
Earlier on Tuesday, Dr Abdullah bin Mohammed Belhaif Al Nuaimi, UAE Minister of Infrastructure Development and Chairman of the Federal Transport Authority for Land and Maritime, inaugurated Breakbulk Middle East. He said the UAE currently accounts for 35 per cent of investment in the maritime region and has invested over Dh157 billion into expanding local ports here. Officials expect that UAE-China trade will cross the $100 billion mark by 2022.
Khaled Shalha, marketing head for King Abdullah Port, also denied that there has been any impact from coronavirus till now but more clarity will come only in the coming weeks.
He alerted that if it is not contained immediately, its impact will be visible in the second quarter.
“There is no impact of coronavirus yet. But if we have more certainty from medical teams that are working on it, the more people are assured and confident about it. If the diseases is not contained, its affect will be felt in the second quarter. Because now it is not just related to China only but spreading to other countries as well,” Shalha added.
Despite the challenges of US-China trade and coronavirus, Shalha expects 2020 to be yet another good year Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Port.
Onur Yigiter, CEO of AM Steel, says impact of the virus is difficult to forecast because it is spreading fast in other countries but slowing down in China.
“How many countries will have coronavirus tomorrow or in one week time and which companies will not survive as a result of this diseases is very difficult to predict. I believe impact of coronavirus has not yet started in our business but I am afraid it will — at what percentage or how much is difficult to estimate,” Yigiter said.