China remains an important market for European enterprises

According to the data released by Eurostat on February 15, the trade volume of the 27 EU countries with China in 2022 was 856.3 billion euros, an increase of 22.8% over the previous year. Joerg Wuttke, president of the European Chamber of Commerce in China, said in an interview with this newspaper that the trade growth between the EU and China is positive, which not only highlights the importance of China as a European trading partner, but also highlights the importance of the European market to China.

As China continues to optimize epidemic prevention and control measures, senior executives of multinational companies are returning to China in succession. It is reported that the senior executives of Volkswagen visited China at the end of January and the beginning of February. The management of the German Benz Group also has plans to visit China recently.

Woodcock said that after the implementation of "Class B and Class B management" in China, many CEOs of European companies planned to go to China to re-establish contacts with Chinese businesses.

Germany, Britain, France, the Netherlands and other European countries increased their investment in China in 2022. Take Germany as an example. In the first three quarters of 2022, German investment in China increased by 114.3% year-on-year. In September 2022, the German chemical giant BASF Group launched a huge complex production project with a price of 10 billion euros in Zhanjiang, Guangdong, China. The goal is to build a world-class chemical integration base, which is by far the largest investment project of BASF in China. Merck Group also announced in the same month that China's first OLED material production base was completed and put into operation in Jinqiao, Pudong, Shanghai.

The World Bank and other institutions have recently released global economic outlook reports, promising China's economic development prospects. China is promoting Chinese path to modernization with high-quality development. What new market opportunities do European enterprises in China look forward to in China? Woodcock believes that there will be more and more opportunities in the field of decarbonization and sustainable development in the Chinese market in the future.

"There are still some areas where the EU and China need to re-engage, especially in areas of common interest, such as promoting sustainable development, promoting international standardization and promoting the reform of the WTO." In Woodke's view, one area where the time for EU-China cooperation is particularly ripe is to deal with climate change. European enterprises are leading the world in many decarbonization related fields and have rich experience in relevant projects in China, which enables European enterprises in China to help China strive to achieve the goal of "carbon neutrality" by 2060.

Woodcock believes that China's economy remains large and dynamic, and China is still an important market for European enterprises. He hoped that China would further open up and promote innovation so as to promote the Chinese market to play its great potential.

"With the reduction of China's labor force, blue-collar labor force becomes less accessible, and enterprises will need to realize more and more process automation." Woodcock believes that this may provide new market opportunities for companies in the digital and intelligent manufacturing fields.

Woodcock further said that the average age of China's population will continue to increase in the coming decades, which may promote the transformation of China's economic structure and promote its more service-oriented orientation. Specifically, China's aging population may create new market opportunities for companies providing health care related services.