Chinese imports will take two or more months to reach the country

Cándido Tancara Castillo/ La Paz

"I got Visa on February 14 and I had planned to travel to China in March and by the Coronavirus I have decided not to do it.".Thus he canceled his Irving Fuertes, toy store importer.Like him, several others also postponed their trips to different provinces of China;They planned to import clothes, toys, fabrics, suitcases and an infinity of products.

Favio Valencia - also importer of clothing, school supplies, eva rubber and stationery - returned to the country in February, but said he was out of China in January, long before the disease was known and became an epidemic.Jorge Pérez, importer of suitcases, backpacks and bags, postponed his trip to China.He said that many of his colleagues in the field canceled his caution trips.Separately and coincidentally, they anticipated that imports will arrive in the country more than two months late, provided that in China they begin to manufacture the different products from this month.

The suspension of the travel of the importers coincides with the projection of the International Association of Air Transport (IATA) that warned that the global economy will be hard affected by the propagation of the coronavirus and that one of the most beaten sectors will be the aviation industry,Well, airlines could lose up to 113 billion dollars in revenue this year.

The interviewees said that people are not only afraid to get evil in China, but and above all in the airplanes or cities where they scale and therefore post their trips.

They indicated that in February and part of March the last products embarked in January will arrive.In April and May, merchandise imported by Bolivian merchants will not arrive, because they stopped traveling and because in the Asian giant they stopped producing as the effect of the virus and also because the appearance of the disease coincided with the Chinese new year, which is celebrated with paralysis ofactivities.

Wilson Durán, importer of Chinese clothing, has a more optimistic posture, because he believes that in the world the sun does not come out or evil is spread throughout the planet people will always work, even risking their lives, because people will not stopfeed and use basic services.“The quarantine imposed by the Chinese government is only some cities, it is not total;They continue to manufacture cell phones to reach the markets ”.

They indicated that the paralysis of productive activities in China, due to the virus, will have its effect on the country coinciding with the Minister of Economy, José Luis Parada, who said that Bolivia is not an "island".In this line the importers estimate that in March and April part of the staked merchandise will be exhausted and gradually the speculation between sellers in detail will feel.

They estimate that there will be a shortage of products or the situation will be exacerbated by half a year and perhaps by then the new merchandise begins to arrive, but much depends on the production that starts this month.They indicated that the merchandise arrive in the ships in a month and 45 days to Chilean ports, depending on the port of origin in China.We must include the days of the transfer of the coast to the country and its disadvantage.

Fuertes said that in April containers will not arrive at Chilean ports, the former could arrive in May."In this period there will be no income for customs due to the importation of Chinese products, there will be no taxes for the country, which are received in March and April will be few," said the executive.

Pérez also estimated that in April and May there will be less circulating in the country, because there will be less Chinese merchandise in the supply centers.“There will not be much circulating, there will be little;The July 16 fair is not only used, it is a giant fair where it is sold from crooked nails to the latest model cars, ”he added.

Favio Valencia said that according to the reports he receives from friends in China, production is paralyzed as well as commerce."Many factories are closed and the market opened its doors but there are no people to visit them to buy".He said that in cities like Wanzo it is expected to resume operations on March 15, when it is believed that not everyone will return to their sources of work for fear of infection.

Consider that the safest that Chinese products will increase in price because the "world depends on China", because there is no product that is not made with a Chinese input, from iron to plastics.

Online trade

Jorge Pérez believes that the impact of the virus will take a total turn to the way of doing business in the world.From now on, he continued, people will avoid making trips or will do little, everything will be via online.In fact, this will impact tourism and extraordinary income in the same states of China, where each state is specialized in the production of a certain product: for example, Guanghuu offers a great variety of electronic items, computers and clothing in general.

He reported that his colleagues in El Alto - where the Chinese merchandise markets at the July 16."This way of doing business will make the importation of merchandise faster because those who transport will do so by ports of Iquique, Arica or another that is faster," he said.

Wilson Durán agreed with Pérez and said that “people who usually make their imports from Chinase communicate via WhatsApp and Wechat and by sending photographs they can make their orders and make bank deposits to make the purchase.Only now it will be more intense.In this way, the merchandise in transit to Bolivian territory by port of Arica ”arrives in Bolivian territory”.

Fuertes believes that the other alternative is still moving to the Free Zone of Iquique, where Chinese products can be acquired to market them in the country's markets."That is an alternative, buy directly from Iquique".

Rapid Weight Loss Hypnosis: A Complete Guide to Natural and Rapid Weight Loss with hypnosis.How to use your mind t ... https: // t.CO/N1B0HOXUEA

— Weight Loss Help 360 Mon Nov 09 00:43:18 +0000 2020

Favio Valencia, who does business with China since more than a decade, said the Asian giant lives a new experience between the massive use of cutting -edge technology and the disease.

“People are suffering, they are buying food through WhatsApp and supermarkets have motorcycles that take them and leave their products on the doors;They collect them after an hour, after disinfecting them, ”said Valencia, according to reports she receives from China through social networks.

Yiwu offered to pay trips to merchants

The authorities of the city of Yiwu, one of the Chinese or supermarket cities of the world, offered to pay even aerial passages of importing regular twice, between February and March, not to paralyze commercial activity in that district.

Irving Fuertes, importer of toy store, said that in Yiwu they understood that people stopped traveling as a precaution or not to spread with the coronavirus.They sat as a condition subsidizing up to 50% of the passage to the usual travelers until the end of February and then expanded the offer until March 10, and then offered to cover the entire air ticket.He said that the offer was not only for Bolivians, but for all who visit it by commerce.

"Apparently no one was encouraged to travel," he said, because according to his colleagues in the field, the possibility of infected is at the scales that can be made on the round trip (USA or Europe).

He said that in China the number of infections and deaths is not like when he explored the disease."It seems that they are already controlling the disease," he added.

Yiwu is under the administration of Jinhua, in the province of Zhejiang, People's Republic.It is famous throughout China as a basic products center and has maintained this range for more than six years, and even exceeded 100 main open markets in the country.Has been named as the flag of the Chinese market economy.

Taxes will fall, 30% come from Chinese merchandise

The president of the National Customs, Jorge Lozada, announced that the Coronavirus will affect tax collection due to the issue of imports, since 30% of taxes come from the entry of Chinese merchandise into the country.

China's ports do not operate normally and two weeks ago they paralyz."We are taking the necessary precautions to compensate with some activities these amounts that we have as goals," he said.

The Government also anticipated that mechanisms are sought to mitigate the impact of coronavirus on the Bolivian economy."The entire global economy is already being affected and we are not an island and we are monitoring so that we do not have any of the problems and we can continue generating the issue of sufficient resources for investments," said the Minister of Economy, Economy,José Luis Parada.

He assured that sectoral meetings are held to avoid the impact of the disease on the national economy, taking into account that China comes from 22% of Bolivian imports and, when this merchandise does not arrive, strategic sectors can be delayed, such as construction such as that of.

The president of the National Chamber of Commerce (CNC), Rolando Kempff, said that to date the disease did not cause great affectation to the Bolivian industry."The Coronavirus can affect the industrial sector if we do not have all raw materials, but until now we do not see an incidence too large," said the businessman.

He considered that so far the National Government properly managed the prevention actions to prevent the coronavirus from entering the country.“On the issue of Coronavirus we must be calm, we cannot cause panic, Bolivia is prepared to see if an outbreak or an imported patient occurs.Hopefully the government will drive it properly, as you are doing, ”said Kemp.