Owing to the sudden eruption of deadly virus, Trade Shows of international repute got cancelled in turn put things on halt till further notice.
It is pretty evident that the effects of the mushrooming coronavirus outbreak hit the globe with dramatic force. Due to it being epidemic in nature, almost every activity/operation has gone into a standstill except for the health industry especially in China the birth place of this deadly virus. Trade & business going on to a halt is of no surprise at all. Under these circumstances, an old but very popular saying Jaan hai to jahan hai perfectly fits the bill.
Amidst the emergency like situation, while China struggles to contain the deadly virus attack, it’s becoming increasingly evident that the disruption to its economy is spilling over to the rest of the world. Moreover, provinces accounting for almost 69% of Chinese GDP have been closed for more than two weeks now after the annual Lunar New Year holiday, shutting factories, shops and restaurants, leaving ships trapped at port, and slamming household spending.
Adding more solidity to the contemporary situation was the travel restrictions that has been imposed within the country and from outside. This has limited the movement of more than 48 million people from and to the crucial manufacturing and logistics hub of Wuhan—the epicentre of the virus. Next few months are likely to prove painful to an economy which is reeling from its slowest growth in three decades, which was under the severe set back due to the prolonged trade war with the United States. The epidemic virus that has now crossed over 30,000 confirmed infections has been only adding to the trouble.
The outbreak of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) was sudden and fierce. In this severe situation, provinces and cities at all levels in China quickly initiated a first-level response to major public health emergencies and cancelled large-scale events. The related governmental instructions constitute force majeure, since they are objective circumstances which are unforeseeable, unavoidable and insurmountable.
Consequently, restrictions were imposed over the proposed large public gathering so as to rein in the epidemic’s spread with immediate effect. Quite a few global business activities which were scheduled to happen in the following months have been put on hold till further notice. Eventually, signage industry didn’t keep itself away from being affected as Shows of international repute like DPES 2020 and APPP Expo 2020 have been postponed without announcing any new date.
Citing that carrying out the shows would be unreasonable under the current circumstances, all venues were requested to notify the organisers to postpone the scheduled events in a timely manner, and report the implementation to the Convention and Exhibition Office of the Department. Accordingly, a formal notice was issued by the respective Organising Committees of Guangzhou DPES Expo as well as Shanghai APPP Expo right at the beginning of Chinese New Year.
In fact, as a precautionary measure to further strengthening the prevention and control of the epidemic, a formal notice from the Department of Commerce of Guangdong Province on suspension of large-scale exhibition activities has been circulated across the exhibition industry stakeholders to keep informed both – the exhibitors as well as the visitors. Following which, all large-scale exhibition activities got suspended with immediate effect.
This led to the postponement of a series of events that were lined up in days to come. In order to ensure the health of exhibitors and visitors and the effectiveness of the exhibition which was originally scheduled for February 9-11, 2020 at the Poly World Trade Expo Centre Expo in Guangzhou, the 23rd DPES Sign Expo China Guangzhou was postponed, rescheduled dates need be notified by the superior authority, and will be informed after consultation with the exhibition hall.
Similarly, following a Circular of Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, the organising committee of APPPEXPO finalise that APPPEXPO 2020, concurrently held with the 28th Shanghai Int’l Ad & Sign Technology and Equipment Exhibition, Shanghai Int’l Digital Textile Printing Expo, Shanghai Int’l Express Printing & Graphic Expo, Shanghai Int’l Lighting Expo, Shanghai Int’l Creative Design Print Top Products Exhibition and the relevant activities scheduled from March 4-7, 2020 at NECC, Shanghai, China have been postponed. The latest exhibition date will be determined according to the development of the situation.
DPES Sign & LED Expo China was first held in 2010. It shows a complete production of mature advertising system, including all kinds of high-end brand products such as UV flatbed, inkjet, digital printer, engraving equipment, signage, LED light source, etc. Every year, DPES Sign Expo attracts a wide range of local and international enterprises to participate, and has become the world’s leading expo for sign and advertising industry.
DPES Sign & LED Expo China 2020 was about to showcase the most advanced technology, equipment and consumables in the sign and LED industries, aiming at boosting the healthy development of digital printing, engraving and signage. The exhibits include digital printing equipment, UV flatbed printer, digital & laser engraver, CNC router, printing material & ink, printing & engraving related accessory, signage, light box, channel letter, POP product, acrylic panel, LED source & chip, and so forth.
The UFI-approved APPPEXPO (Ad, Print, Pack & Paper Expo) has a history of 28 years and is also a globally famous brand. One of the four major international events of Shanghai, the Expo gathers innovative products and technological achievements from different fields including inkjet printing, cutting, engraving, material, signage, display, lighting, textile printing, express printing & graphic and packaging where the perfect integration of creative advertising and technological innovation can be fully presented. The Show, as the trading platform, always guides and maintains the industry development as the elements are increasingly diverse.
As the most important part of APPPEXPO, Shanghai International Ad & Sign Technology & Equipment Exhibition (Ad & Sign Expo) provides one-stop solutions for the advertising signage industry, besides opening up the whole industry chain. It helps the global signage industry stakeholders to explore the future development of the industry and serves as a link to allow China to see the world and the world to understand China. Whether it is the diversified exhibits, the forms of display, the channels of promotion, the sources of buyers, or the regions of market, the Expo truly reflects the brand spirit of innovation, seeking and exploration.
As far as global impact is concerned, the knock-on effects of the virus and China’s dramatic response are daily making themselves felt, from disrupted air travel to rattled supply chains and plummeting commodity prices that are dampening growth prospects from Southeast Asia to South America and beyond. Economists and analysts still caution that the full economic fallout depends on how well China can ultimately contain the outbreak and on whether the return to work—especially for migrant labourers, who make up a substantial part of China’s manufacturing workforce—can be managed smoothly.
Within China, the outbreak and the government’s response—essentially firewalling off nearly 100 million people in central Hubei province, where the virus broke out—already have impacted a host of sectors, from hospitality and retail to airlines, insurance, and manufacturing. Numerous cities and towns have implemented their own quarantine measures. Among the most restrictive are those in Wenzhou, the city worst hit by the virus outside Hubei and a major cog in China’s maritime trade.
Migrant labourers have also been particularly badly hit, both due to widespread prejudice against them as perceived carriers of the virus and because the New Year is usually when they seek new employment. For those who are able to look for work, however, wages are high. “I’m paying out 150% of the usual salaries right now,” Li, a factory owner in the industrial city of Tangshan, far from the virus’ epicentre, has been reported as saying that almost nobody is available.
When trying to assess just how painful the outbreak will be for the world’s second-largest economy, most analysts reach back to the 2003 SARS outbreak, which knocked off an estimated 1 percent or more from China’s growth rate. But the consensus now is that the coronavirus will have an even bigger impact than SARS—for several reasons.
First, the Chinese economy is a lot, lot bigger than it was then. At the same time, the Chinese economy—which has since the financial crisis sought to shift away from energy-intensive manufacturing and exports and embrace more services and internal demand—is more vulnerable to disruption than before. It’s also less able to turn to a quick-fired manufacturing-led rebound to erase the effects of disease disruption, as it did in 2003 after SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome.
Finally, China ended last year wheezing, with official growth rates at their lowest level since 1990—about a 6 percent increase in GDP—and with confidence rattled by a yearlong trade war with the United States that left lots of hefty tariffs on Chinese exports. China’s Purchasing Managers’ Index, a measure of factory activity, was already showing signs of manufacturing contraction before the full effects of the virus had been accounted for.
Meanwhile, as we all know, China didn’t take rest. A 60,000 Sqm structure with space for 1,000 beds and 30 intensive care wards, all built in just 10 days. According to Chinese state media, the construction of a new hospital in virus-hit Wuhan has been completed – just a little over a week after it began. A team of 7,000 carpenters, plumbers, electricians and other specialists worked around the clock to build the Huoshenshan hospital, Chinese state media said, within a week. A second hospital has also been built in Wuhan in just ten days.