Wenzhou sees massive shut-down among SMEs

15 Oct '08

2 min read

A recent survey conducted by Economic and Trade Commission, shows that among 15,521 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in 31 Industrial Towns and Development Zones in Wenzhou, 1259 enterprises are partly closed down or are on the verge of shutdown.

This accounts for 8.1 percent of the total enterprises participating in the survey, marking a rise of 2.1 percentage points from the first quarter.

Insiders say that the difference can be actually seen in Wenzhou. Instead of buzzing factories, today one sees just empty ones, locked gates, scattered raw material apparatus in workshops and only few security guards.

President Zhou Dewen of Promotion Association of Small and Medium Enterprises in Wenzhou, stated, "A lot of factories have stopped production. The difficulties this summer are greater than we imagined at the beginning of the year."

Industrial recession is spreading rapidly along the coastline, starting from Wenzhou towards Taizhou, Yiwu, Cixi of Ningbo, Nihai, Shengzhou of Shaoxing and the Light & Textile Industrial City in Keqiao.

The latest statistics show that industrial added value of large scale enterprises in Zhejiang achieved a year-on-year increase of 12.2 percent in the first half of 2008, but the growth rate declined 5.5 percentage points from the same time last year.

In the first 5 months, corporate profits grew 14.1 percent, but down 17.8 percentage points in growth rate as compared to same period last year. Experts say that the economy is facing greater uncertainty and the development trend is grim, even in the second half of this year.

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