The swingeing Covid lockdown which halted or delayed production in Shanghai for two months has put a dent of more than £20bn in world trade and will be particularly damaging for the British economy, experts have warned.
Figures looking at the impact of the near total shutdown of the city – China’s financial centre and one of its largest manufacturing hubs – show that sectors from clothing to cars were among those to suffer the largest hits to production as the authorities pursue a “zero Covid” strategy to snuff out outbreaks of the Omicron variant of the virus.
Officials in Shanghai, which also hosts the world’s biggest container port, insisted this week that the city was finally emerging from the lockdown which was first imposed in early March, affecting the entire population of 26 million people. Millions were confined to their homes, while others were asked to stay in factories to try to maintain production.
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The effects of the crisis, which saw brands from Tesla to Apple slow or halt production either at directly owned factories or plants supplying components, are now beginning to be felt beyond China amid warnings of increasing prices and potential shortages as a backlog of shipments unwinds.
The Russell Group, a London-based…
