BERLIN — Imports of Chinese autos and components to Germany jumped 75 % within the first half of the yr whereas commerce the opposite manner slumped, exhibiting the mounting strain on Europe’s largest auto manufacturing hub.
Several Chinese manufacturers entered the German market this yr, the German Economic Institute (IW) stated in a report seen forward of publication by Reuters, bringing the whole to eight, although they nonetheless account for simply 1.5 % of autos offered within the nation.
Cars made in China by non-Chinese manufacturers, such because the full-electric iX3 from BMW, additionally contributed to the rise in imports.
The examine comes days after the European Commission launched an investigation into whether or not to impose punitive tariffs to guard EU producers towards cheaper Chinese electric-vehicle imports it says profit from state subsidies.
It additionally exhibits exports of German autos and components to the world’s second-largest financial system slumped 21 % within the first half of the yr, accounting for 3 quarters of the whole decline in exports to China of over 8 %.
“The business model that used to support car production in Germany – the intercontinental export of high-quality vehicles – is coming under increasing pressure,” wrote examine authors Juergen Matthes and Thomas Puls.
“German manufacturers have been relocating more and more production to China for years, currently also increasingly in the previously resistant premium class.”
More broadly, autos are more and more turning into an Asian product, with almost 60 % of all autos produced in an Asian nation final yr, in contrast with round 31 % in 2000, they wrote.
Europe is shedding significance for the sector, with solely Germany and Spain among the many prime ten auto producers worldwide, which in 2000 additionally included France, Britain and Italy.
German automakers’ early entry into the Chinese market within the Nineteen Eighties is to thank for his or her relative resilience, the IW stated.
Is derisking starting?
Germany has at occasions been seen as a weak hyperlink in Western makes an attempt to decouple from China, given Berlin’s sturdy enterprise ties with the Asian superpower which turned Germany’s single largest commerce companion in 2016.
But Germany has over the previous yr joined the broader push to cut back dependence on China – which its policymakers have dubbed “de-risking.”
The IW examine, entitled “Is Derisking Beginning?,” stated a breakdown of the broader 17 % drop in German imports from China within the first half of the yr pointed to the primary indicators of a discount of Germany’s reliance on China.
About 70 % of product teams with a comparatively excessive worth the place China historically accounts for greater than half of imports noticed a decline in China’s market share.
And just below 16 % of such product teams noticed declines in China’s import share of greater than 20 share factors, the examine confirmed, with out naming the product areas or giving the precise market shares.
But the chemical substances sector alone accounted for 14 share factors of the whole decline in imports.
It is simply too early to attract clear conclusions from the info about derisking, IW stated, including authorities wanted to make extra information accessible.
“We urgently need information about which products are indispensable, what role they play in firms’ supply chains and whether they could be replaced in sufficient supply and a short timeframe by other countries or production at home,” it stated.
Source: europe.autonews.com