Whether it is exporting to China or investing in production in China, after China has successfully contained the epidemic, relevant Japanese companies have benefited a lot from China's economic recovery and development.

　　With the spread of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the Japanese economy has suffered a lot.

Large companies such as Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways, East Japan Railway Company, and West Japan Railway Company are all operating at a loss. However, some related companies have recently raised their performance expectations because they took the China Economic Development Express.

Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that the Chinese economy, which was the first to get rid of the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic and achieve a rapid recovery, drove the export of related companies to China.

Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. and TDK, which produce electronic components, and the four major auto companies that produce automobiles in China have seen significant improvements in their operating performance.

China-Europe Express is welcomed by Japanese companies.

The Japanese stock market has also recently seen a new trend of optimistic Japanese companies with business in China.

　　At the quarterly performance briefing held by Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. on October 30, the company's chairman Tsuneo Murata said: "China's economy is recovering very quickly." After the outbreak, the company had predicted that this year's operating profit would be about 150 billion yen. (1 yen is about 0.06 yuan), a year-on-year decrease of 18%.

However, a recent reassessment showed that the full-year profit will increase by 3% to 189 billion yen, due to the large increase in exports of multilayer ceramic capacitors for computers and mobile phones to China.

　　TDK, which produces batteries for laptops and tablet computers, also announced recently that its forecasted profit for the year will increase from 48 billion yen to 76 billion yen.

Thanks to the popularization of remote work from home and online education, the company's operating profit increased by 15% from April to September this year.

　　Nihon Keizai Shimbun pointed out in the report that "the recovery of the Chinese economy has greatly helped Japanese companies."

For example, FANUC, a Japanese industrial robot manufacturer, has recently reduced its forecast for the entire year from a 53% year-on-year increase in the summer to a year-on-year increase of 2%. The main reason is that the sales of automated robots used in factories in China have improved. Kenji said: "Orders in the third quarter increased significantly compared to the second quarter, and the business atmosphere improved significantly." In addition, Sumitomo Heavy Machinery Industry Co., Ltd. also raised its forecasts on sales net profit and year-end dividends on October 30.

　　At present, in the forecasts made by Japanese economic commentators on China's future economic trends, there are obviously more upward adjustments than downward adjustments.

　　Toyota Motor Corporation recently announced that its sales volume in China in August was 164,400 units, a year-on-year increase of 27.2%. Honda Motor Corporation's sales volume also increased significantly by 19.7%.

In particular, Toyota's sales in China exceeded the level of the same period last year for five consecutive months. Honda Motor Co. not only increased its sales for two consecutive months, but also hit a record high in August. The production of Dongfeng Honda in Wuhan increased by 19.8% year-on-year.

It shows that China's economy and consumer market, which has been hit by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, has rebounded strongly.

　　According to the recent statistics of the annual forecast adjustments of major Japanese companies by the Nikkei, 77% of companies have raised their performance forecasts.

Among them, Sony has the largest increase in the new forecast, reaching 290 billion yen.

During the epidemic, as people enjoy music and play games at home increased significantly after going out, the game software and online music live broadcasts developed by the company became popular.

　　In addition, Japanese companies attach importance to and make extensive use of the news of the China-Europe special train has become the focus of Japanese media reports.

Nihon Keizai Shimbun stated in another report that under the epidemic, the advantages of China-Europe Express trains have emerged.

　　Previously, air freight between China and Europe was fast and convenient. Some commodities with tight delivery deadlines would be transported by air, but the high air freight cost became a bottleneck restricting its development.

Under normal circumstances, the price of air transportation is 4 times that of rail transportation.

After the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia, the frequency of international air transportation dropped sharply, leading to a further increase in air freight prices. For a period of time, air freight was even more than 10 times higher than rail freight.

Chinese companies and companies that rely on air transportation such as Japanese precision instruments and auto parts that carry out business activities based in China are facing huge transportation cost pressures, so they have requested to switch to railway shipments, and the advantages of China-Europe express transportation have become more prominent.

　　Currently, Nippon Express Cargo Co., Ltd. and China Railway Transport Corporation have opened up to 23 round-trip train lines between China and Europe, with a round-trip time of 25 days.

The main routes are from Xi'an to Duisburg, Germany, Shanghai to Hamburg, Germany, and Qingdao to Budapest, Hungary. The annual number of trains reaches 2,500 to 3,000, and it is expected to increase to 5,000 next year.

　　Statistics show that Japan Express used China-Europe Express to ship 14,000 tons in 2019, accounting for 1/10 of its business volume in China.

According to customer requirements, the company recently plans to add new train routes from Xi'an to Northern Europe via Russia and Ukraine.

　　In addition, the Danish Maersk Line, the largest container freight company in Europe, also uses the combination of shipping and the Siberian Railway to increase cargo transportation between Asia and Europe.

Since September, the frequency of its cargo trains has been increased from the original two-weekly train to once a week.

The above measures have significantly eased the cargo backlog situation between Asia and Europe.

　　According to Nippon Express, rail transportation is not only cheaper than air transportation, but the transportation efficiency is much higher than that of sea transportation, and its advantages are even more obvious in the epidemic.

In particular, the amount of carbon dioxide emissions produced by railway transportation is significantly less, and the timeliness and safety of goods delivery are more guaranteed.

Beginning in 2018, Nippon Express has also opened up freight routes for Japanese goods to be transported by air and sea to Chongqing and Xiamen in China, and then transferred to Europe by China-Europe Express.

　　The Japanese stock market is also optimistic about the momentum of China's economic recovery.

Compared with the stock prices at the beginning of the year, among the companies with business in China, Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. and FANUC both rose 8%, and Sony Corp. rose 17%.

As of November 2, the Nikkei 225 index fell 1.53% from the beginning of the year.

SMBC Nikko Securities Chief Equity Analyst Masaji Mi said: “The second wave of epidemics in Europe and the United States continues to spread, and companies that sell more to China clearly have an advantage.” Obviously, whether it is exporting to China or investing in production in China, it is successful in China. After controlling the epidemic, relevant Japanese companies have benefited a lot from China's economic recovery and development.

　　Author: Hai River