Rumours and panic add to cost of SARS
The deadly respiratory virus that has paralysed business travel and tourism in Asia is also extracting an emotional toll, as authorities contend with panic and manufacturers battle fears of contagion.
China’s Ministry of Commerce adopted a five-point plan to ensure the supply of basic goods today in the face of panic buying due to fears of widespread quarantines.
The government has ordered 4,000 people into isolation and shut down three Beijing hospitals due to severe acute respiratory syndrome, or Sars.
The ministry’s announced a 24 hour hot line and plans to monitor supplies, pricing and distribution of 11 basic goods: rice, flour, cooking oil, meat, salt, sugar, eggs, vegetables, face masks, antiseptic soap and detergents.
Such items – long ago rationed but usually in ample supply these days – were running short by midweek in Beijing. Residents have been stocking up on basics since authorities urged citizens to limit travel during an upcoming national holiday to help prevent the spread of Sars, which has killed 115 and sickened 2,600 nationwide.
Despite widespread fears Sars could spread further, there have been relatively few disruptions in the mainland or elsewhere in Asia.
Only a handful of Chinese companies have acknowledged temporary shutdowns of production lines due to Sars.
Managers of operations in China say they’re busier beating down rumours and dealing with panicked staff and customers than with coping with actual Sars cases.
“I’m busting rumours every day. It’s all over the place,” said Phil Kimmel, vice president for Kingmaker Footwear Holdings., a supplier to major shoe makers like Clarks, Caterpillar and Stride Rite, with factories in southern China and Vietnam.
Like many other foreign companies with factories in China, Kingmaker has taken precautions against the spread of Sars. Manufacturers say they have stepped up disinfection and cleaning and closely monitor workers’ health – some Japanese companies are recommending gargling as well as hand washing.
Kimmel says he is constantly hearing rumours of factories that have been hit by Sars cases, none of which turned out to be true. He has reassured colleagues with stuffy noses that they are unlikely to be suffering from the illness - which is characterised by high fever, achiness and a dry cough.
“It’s not something we take lightly,” he says, “but there is so much nonsense going around.”
Given China’s increasingly pivotal role as a manufacturing centre for many industries, there are few companies in the region that are not affected in some way, however small, by the Sars outbreak.
To reassure its customers of the safety of its products, the Japanese toy maker Bandai said it was having its Hong Kong-based suppliers disinfect toys made in the Chinese mainland, which accounts for 90% of its production.
A report by the Taiwan-based research group Market Intelligence Centre noted the mammoth size of China’s work force suggests that factories will stay open even if the Sars outbreak widens.
But orders that normally might go to Asian suppliers could be diverted to European or American manufacturers, due to the lack of opportunities for face-to-face business networking because of cancelled or postponed trade shows and bans on company travel to the region, it said.
