Most European companies in China confident in domestic market prospect: official

(ECNS)-- Most European multinationals present in China are confident in the prospects of the domestic market, with 84 percent expanding or maintaining operations in the first half of this year, a Chinese official said Monday.

The China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) conducted a survey on the business environment applicable to foreign investors in the first half of 2022, and received feedback from nearly 160 multinational companies, said Sun Xiao, spokesperson of the CCPIT and secretary general of the China Chamber of International Commerce.

The outcome indicated that, in the first half of this year, 19 percent of European companies in China had expanded the scale of their existing operation and production, 65 percent had maintained their scale, and 15 percent had reduced their scale. Only less than 1 percent had closed existing production operations in China, she added.

Several European multinationals achieved outstanding revenue in China according to their first-half financial reports.

The EU remained China's second-largest trading partner in the first half of this year. The total trade volume between China and Europe in the same period was 3.23 trillion yuan ($0.47 trillion), an increase of 8.9 percent, accounting for 13.7 percent of China's total foreign trade. China's exports to the EU were 2.14 trillion yuan, an increase of 19.7 percent, and its trade surplus,1.05 trillion yuan, an increase of 71.7 percent.

In the first half of this year, EU investment in China increased by 15 percent year on year, and European companies like BMW, Audi and Airbus continued to expand their local business.

"European multinational companies continue to be optimistic about the Chinese market. The resilience of China's economic development and the large domestic market remains attractive," Sun said.