As war threatens China's Iran investments, Middle East still beckons

South China Morning Post

4 hours ago

Watching as missile bombardments threaten key shipping routes and blow up some of their trade deals in the Middle East, with Iran at the centre of the firestorm, Chinese exporters are feeling the heat.
After finalising a deal with an Iranian buyer she met at
China's Canton Fair in April, Miya Yu, a trader of light industrial goods – valves, toys, aluminium containers, etc – collected the necessary materials to begin production and fill the order.
Production never began. The contracted client vanished without a word as his country engaged in battle with the United States and Israel, putting Yu's business plans at risk of becoming an economic casualty of the latest violent crisis in a region that is among the world's most volatile.
'We simply can't tell whether delivery will still be possible,' she said on Monday.
Meanwhile, Cai Zhan, a foreign trade entrepreneur from Wenzhou and a social media influencer with more than 1.2 million followers on Douyin – China's version of TikTok – said in a recent video that she had cancelled August plans to attend an auto-parts expo in Iran, after clients warned her not to come, citing the 'serious' security situation.
'The ongoing conflict has severely disrupted business,' she said. And with clients cutting orders, shipping costs rising, and the outlook shrouded in uncertainty, she said many exporters in her network are tightening their belts.
In terms of tremors of instability in the pulse of global shifts, few are more attuned than Chinese exporters navigating its shock waves in real time.