GUANGZHOU/HEFEI, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) --
With machines roaring, factories in the southern Chinese city of
Dongguan, known as the "factory of the world," are heating up
production. The scenes are in sharp
contrast to the usual happenings as factories traditionally shut down
for a couple of weeks after the Chinese Spring Festival holiday. To
prevent the sporadic resurgence of COVID-19, China had encouraged
people to stay put over the holiday this year, which lasted from Feb. 11
to Feb 17. Dongguan, a city with more than 11,000 major industrial
enterprises, has more than 5 million registered workers, of which over 3
million chose not to visit their hometowns during the holiday. According
to a survey covering the 200 largest manufacturing enterprises in
Dongguan, about 60 percent were operational during the holiday. Besides,
more factories quickly resumed production right after the holiday, at
least two weeks earlier than the usual schedule. The
humming factories in Dongguan offer a glimpse of the bustling
production activities across the country after the holiday. The stay-put
measure has helped enterprises shore up holiday production, eased
post-holiday labor shortages, and improved order delivery capacities,
ushering in a "warm spring" for China's manufacturing sector. HUMMING FACTORIES Dongguan's
economic growth is highly reliant on foreign trade, with many factories
surviving on export orders. In previous years, enterprises would cut
orders in the first quarter of the year due to post-holiday labor
shortages. However, things have changed this year. "Over
60 percent of our employees didn't go back home this Spring Festival.
Our factory has been running except the holiday period," said Zhou
Hongchun, vice general manager of Huamei Group, a food company in
Dongguan. Zhou added that sufficient
workers have increased the company's capability to deliver orders and
ensured quick resumption of production after the holiday. "We
have more than 1 million yuan (about 154,900 U.S. dollars) of subsidies
for employees who chose to stay, but the cost is much lower compared
with that of employing new workers after the holiday," Zhou said. Similar
to the food company, Hefei Chang'an Automobile Co., Ltd. in east
China's Anhui Province also saw boisterous production activities. The
automaker resumed production on Feb. 14. More than 1,700 employees, or
around 85 percent of its staff, clocked in on the first day of work,
including over 800 migrant workers who stayed during the holiday. The
manufacturing capacity has returned to the pre-holiday level, with 703
vehicles rolled off the production line on Tuesday, according to the
company. "Another production line
resumed operation on Wednesday, with a capacity of around 300 units a
day. Cars rolled off from this assembly line will be exported to Saudi
Arabia, Chile and Brazil," said Xue Wen, an engineer with the company. "WARM SPRING" FOR MANUFACTURING SECTOR Dongguan
is considered an important indicator for China's manufacturing
industry. In the first quarter of 2020, the value-added industrial
output of the city's major industrial enterprises fell by 17.9 percent
year on year due to the impact of COVID-19. However,
with the pandemic under control and the gradual resumption of
production, the growth decline of the value-added output of its major
industrial enterprises narrowed month by month, with an annual decline
of 1.1 percent last year. "With the
pandemic raging globally, many overseas factories are still closed, and
orders have been shifted to China, which has stimulated our production,"
said Li Zhongquan, general manager of Ampenol FCI Connectors Dongguan.
"We didn't stop production even for a single day during the COVID-19
outbreak." In 2020, the company's
operating revenue increased 30 percent year on year to 1.63 billion
yuan. To complete the increasing orders this year, the company resumed
production right after a three-day break. Peng
Yiping, general director of Guangdong NBTM Huajing New Materials, a
company mainly producing smart wearable devices, is confident about this
year's market prospect. The orders
have continued to increase, Peng said, noting that the company's output
is expected to reach 182.5 million yuan in the first four months of this
year, an increase of 53 percent compared to the same period last year. Echoing
similar thoughts, Zhan Zhibin, director of the bureau of industrial and
information technology of Dongguan, said the manufacturing enterprises
will have a bright market prospect this year despite the lingering
impact of the COVID-19 epidemic. The
city's industrial investment rose 11 percent year on year in 2020,
injecting impetus into its manufacturing industry, Zhan added. "We
expect the city's GDP to increase by 6 percent this year, with the
value-added output of its major industrial enterprises up 5 percent,
maintaining a strong growth momentum," said Zhan. Enditem
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