Results of the Quarterly Business Sentiment Survey of CICC Members – Q3 (July-August -September 2020)

Dear Members and Friends,

From July 2020, the China-Italy Chamber of Commerce (CICC) started a quick quarterly survey to gather information on the business sentiment of all our Members in China.

The goal is the direct and up-to-date knowledge of how business is doing in our industries every quarter. At the beginning of each quarter we learn how the previous one performed and what’s the forecast for the following one.

The results of Q3 business sentiment survey (third quarter) are available online!

Download the executive summary here.

The survey refers to the period of July-August-September 2020 (Q3) and the sample is composed by 199 (out of 530) CICC members (38%).

The companies which joined the survey are located nationwide with a significant 70,31% of respondents located in East China, followed by 13,57% located in South China and by 8,04% in the North, 4,57% of the South-West.

The respondents well reflect the composition of business sectors of CICC Members. In fact, a significant number of participants is active in the Mechanical Engineering & Manufacturing (62%) and intangible services (23%), followed by Food and Beverage (9%), Retail-B2C & Furniture (3,5%) and Healthcare (2,5%).

Data show:

• 73% of companies are in NORMAL or HIGHER range of orders intake in Q3.
• A strong improvement of orders intake for all in Q3. In particular: Q3 vs. Q2 saw a clear recovery of orders intake, with 26% still experiencing a reduction.
• a substantial improvement of LOWER orders intake from -40% to -26% (+14,08%)
• Still a persistent negative trend for EXPORTERS suffering a worsening situation compared to domestic sales
• 46,2% suffered a consistent revenue reduction in China for the first 9 months of 2020

• Compared to Q3, forecast for order intake in Q4 still shows a positive trend with new orders expected to increase by 2% approx.
• STABLE and HIGHER order intake forecast both slightly increase
• Exporters expect to see an improvement for Q4

2020 trends Year-end forecasts:

• 38% forecast a HIGHER 2020 revenue vs. 2019
• 39% forecast a LOWER 2020 revenue vs. 2019
• 6 -12 months trend forecast is HIGHER for 87% of companies.

The CICC thanks all 199 companies for taking part in the Survey, helping to create added value and providing the tools to improve concrete support for the Italian business community in China. The next quarterly business sentiment survey will be held on January 2021.

Click the link to read the press release of the CICC and the article published by Class - Xinhua News.

Kind regards,

CICC Team