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Frankfurt / Main (dpa) - Germany's machine builders complain about massive and sometimes business-damaging problems when entering China.
The country has tightened its entry requirements since the beginning of the year in the corona pandemic so that it is hardly possible to send employees to customers in the country for installation, repair or maintenance under acceptable conditions, criticized the industry association VDMA.
"The official ministerial invitation required for entry is hardly available", criticized Ulrich Ackermann, Head of VDMA Foreign Trade.
The consequences: Chinese customers postpone payments, German machine builders are left behind when it comes to new orders, as a VDMA survey of member companies revealed.
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According to the company, Erbatech GmbH is at risk of considerable economic damage if its machines for the wet finishing of fabrics cannot be set up and put into operation at the customer's premises or with a delay.
"The orders cannot be completed properly, final payments remain open."
Christof Boensch, Chairman of the Management Board of Frimo Group GmbH, complained: "Chinese competitors are using the" lockdown "of China to penetrate further into our markets and are using the non-availability of German experts as a sales argument."
In principle, a two-week quarantine applies after entering the country.
If employees then travel to another region, according to the VDMA, there may be another quarantine of one to two weeks.
This created a patchwork quilt that companies can hardly see through.
"In some cases, the conditions are not yet definitely fixed immediately before departure from Germany," reported Ackermann.
Another problem: "Accommodation in the quarantine hotels is often unreasonable by European standards," said Ackermann.
Among other things, companies have reported very small hotel rooms, some without windows and adequate ventilation, a lack of linen change, and poor hygiene conditions, under which corona tests were carried out.
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“Foreign travelers must find accommodation in China that at least meets the basic requirements for hygiene standards.
Given the large number of excellent hotels on site, this shouldn't actually be a problem, ”demanded Ackermann.
The VDMA has turned to the Chinese ambassador in Berlin about the problem.
According to the association, an estimated 1,000 German mechanical engineers are active in China.
According to Ackermann, it hits medium-sized companies particularly hard.
"Many medium-sized companies do not have all the specialists they need in China, but send them from the parent company as needed," explained Ackermann.
"We therefore call on the Chinese government to offer pragmatic solutions that enable foreign specialists with a negative corona test or who have survived corona disease to travel directly to their customers."
China is one of the most important individual markets for machines “Made in Germany”.
Last year, machines and systems worth 18.1 billion euros went to the world's second largest economy.
The USA was just ahead of the top with 18.2 billion euros.
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© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210407-99-110667 / 2
VDMA press