It has been a calendar four months since the first cases of the coronavirus were identified in China, two months since the WHO declared COVID-19 a public health emergency of international concern and three weeks since the WHO upgraded the status to a pandemic. From very early on in this tragic timetable of events, China was very quick to enforce a ‘lockdown status’ which is now starting to yield some levels of success in returning people and businesses back into operation and, as a result, restarting the flow of goods and services. Although the supply chain from China and the APAC region is slowly coming back online, global sentiment and demand has weakened until the situation in Europe and elsewhere becomes clearer, with many border restrictions causing bottlenecks.
A big question mark for the APAC markets is how quickly Europe and North America will recover, allowing multi-national corporations more clarity in their decision making. In particular the automotive, aerospace and related industries that have a large footprint in Europe. On the positive side, certain sectors, related to the food-based and pharmaceutical logistics are thriving.
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