SEOUL– South Korea vowed Tuesday to further beef up its early warning monitoring system on key industry items amid fears of supply chain disruptions due to China’s lockdown of major cities over the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shanghai has remained closed for nearly three weeks, along with several other cities, as the Chinese government has enforced rigorous zero-COVID policy steps to curb the fast spread of the virus.
The lockdown has seriously affected production and logistics in the region, a trade official at the Korean Consulate General in Shanghai said during a meeting of related trade and industry agencies.
Some manufacturers there have begun preparing to reopen factories, but it will take time for them to fully resume operations, given the city’s quarantine and logistics circumstances, he added.
If China expands such antivirus restrictions, South Korea would suffer greater impacts, as many major domestic firms’ production facilities are located in the adjacent regions, a Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) official said.
In a move to minimize the impact, the industry ministry vowed to strengthen the monitoring of major industry items through its early warning system, which has been in place at dozens of overseas diplomatic missions since last year to check supply conditions on a real-time basis. Some 4,000 items are on the monitoring list.
“We will extend tailored support to companies in the affected regions, while swiftly sharing related information with them and seeking ways to enhance monitoring of major economic security items,” Deputy Trade Minister Jeong Dae-jin said.
Source: Yonhap News Agency