Swiss companies continue to have high confidence in China
Published: Friday, Oct 18th 2024, 13:50
Volver a Live Feed
Despite lower sales and profit expectations, Swiss companies operating in China have confidence in the country's business potential. The Middle Kingdom remains a priority investment destination, even if spending plans have recently been cut back somewhat.
In the latest "Swiss Business in China" survey conducted by the non-profit organization "Swiss Centers Group", business confidence for the coming year reached 7 out of 10 points. "Absolutely not confident" results in 0 points in the survey, 10 points stands for "extremely confident".
This is slightly lower than the 7.2 points during the reopening after Covid, according to a communiqué published on Friday. However, the value is higher than in any other year since 2015.
Almost half of the companies surveyed consider China to be one of their "top 3" investment targets, the report continued. More than a third (35%) of the companies planned to increase their investments. Only 6 percent wanted to reduce them.
However, this is the lowest investment intention recorded in the survey to date, the authors write. Nevertheless, China remains a priority investment destination.
Falling profit expectations
Investment plans are also likely to have become more cautious in light of the fact that expected profits are likely to be more difficult to realize. This is because the turnover and profit expectations of Swiss companies have fallen.
Although 46% of respondents expect higher sales and 43% higher profits in the current year. In 2023, after the reopening after Covid, these figures would have been 51% and 62% respectively.
The "Swiss Business in China" survey was conducted by the University of St. Gallen, the Swiss Centers Group in cooperation with the Swiss diplomatic representations in China.
The 101 Swiss companies surveyed included both SMEs and large companies.
©Keystone/SDA
Spanish 
English 
German 
French 
Arabic