A survey of industrial companies in south China's Guangdong Province, the economic powerhouse of China, found about 70 percent of the firms have not been affected by the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
The results of the survey of 551 industrial companies, which was released Wednesday by the statistics bureau with the Guangdongprovincial government, showed that 70 percent of the firms believed the disease would not have a serious impact on their production during the coming quarter.
The results indicate SARS had affected industrial production inGuangdong somewhat during April and May, but the impact was not very serious.
Only one third of the companies surveyed said they were affected by SARS in a small way.
About half of the firms who claimed they were affected said their output, sales and orders and profits dropped by less than 10percent, while only 20 percent said their output or sales contracted by 30 percent or more.
Nearly 40 percent of the firms surveyed said the outbreak of SARS had caused a negative impact on their exports, and about 10 percent of the firms whose export business was affected said theirexports slumped by at least 20 percent.
Guangdong, which borders on Hong Kong, is the best performing economic region on the Chinese mainland.
(Xinhua News Agency June 19, 2003)
