Palm Oil Developments No.72 (June 2020) p27-33

Post-COVID-19 Market Situation of Palm Oil in China

Yoong Jun Hao*; Chen Shiqing**; Insyirah Mohamad Shah*; Subashini Nadras* and Rosidah Radzian*

The world’s economy has faced an unprecedented challenge, which is not encountered before by the novel coronavirus (SARS-nCoV-2) since December 2019. China had taken proactive measures to control the spread of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in its country, including lockdown of several cities in the Hubei Province on 23 January 2020, which were the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic. Following to the cities lockdown, land transportations between metropolitans (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou) were restricted, and high-speed train services and public places (shopping malls, cinemas etc) in the country were closed to reduce human-to-human transmission through public gathering. These measures have caused severe social and economic impacts on China. The COVID-19 outbreak caused at least USD0.21 trillion or 6.8% losses to China’s gross domestic production (GDP) for the first three months of 2020. This is the first recorded negative GDP growth in China’s history. The National Bureau of Statistics of the People’s Republic of China (NBS) reported that China’s GDP for the first quarter of 2020 was USD2.91 trillion, a lower figure as compared with USD3.02 trillion in January-March 2019. The economic loses that impacted the hotel, restaurant and catering (HORECA) industries in China.





Author information:
* Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB),
6 Persiaran Institusi, Bandar Baru Bangi,
43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.
E-mail: jhyoong@mpob.gov.my

** Palm Oil Research and Technical Service
Institute of Malaysian Palm Oil Board
Level 2, No. 18, Lane 88, Yuanshan
Road,Xinzhuang Industrial Park,
Minhang District, Shanghai,
People’s Republic of China