While China is seriously trying to get to terms with the end of the zero-Covid policies since the end of December 2022, international business has not been following suit, according to the Financial Times. International business delegations and other foreign visitors have not yet returned to Shanghai, writes the paper.Read More →

Domestic competition for foreign fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) in China is growing, but branding expert Ashley Dudarenok expects there will still be a market for those foreign brands, she writes in Dao Insights. “To sum it up, the FMCG market in China in 2023 is very fluid,” she writes.Read More →

China claims that since the end of the disputed zero-Covid policies at the end of November 2022 till February 2023  200 million of its citizens have been diagnosed with Covid-19, writes AP. Of those, 800,000 critically ill patients have recovered, says the news agency in an article, based on notes from a meeting of the ruling Communist Party’s all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee presided over by President and party leader Xi Jinping. The president claims Covid-19 has been effectively beaten.Read More →

Domestic tourism in China saw a jump, and consumer sentiment is improving more slowly after the zero-Covid policies ended, says consumer expert Ashley Dudarenok at CNBC. Brands are relucted in spending their marketing budgets. Dudarenok said that heading into 2023 and the Lunar New Year, some smaller brands had turned more conservative on China and cut their marketing budgets for the country in half.Read More →