Global economy sideswiped by coronavirus

Impact

Due to the lead times involved in shipping goods around the world, the impact of the shutdown of Chinese factories is only now being felt.

Soren Skou, chief executive of shipping company Maersk, said: “We are experiencing huge pressure at Chinese port terminals because there are not enough workers at the ports to move the containers around, not enough truck drivers to move the goods, and no one to receive them at the factories or warehouses.”

Rotterdam harbour in the Netherlands has reported a 20 per cent decline in departures from Chinese ports to its facilities.

Meanwhile, analysis by the Harvard Business Review showed disruption to global trade could peak in mid-March but last for many months.

The Baltic Dry Index, which monitors global shipping costs, halved in January and has stayed at four-year lows ever since.

China, along with Japan and South Korea, have been among the UK’s fastest growing export markets, according to figures from the Food and Drink Federation.

UK food sales to China and Hong Kong were more than £1.2 billion in 2019, with food imports from the duo about a third of that figure.

Growth in UK food exports to Japan in 2019 was more than 20 per cent, with a 15 per cent increase in sales to South Korea.

Italy – the European country hardest hit by the virus – was the destination for about £600 million of UK food exports in 2019, but it was the origin of more than £3bn in food imports into the UK.