MORE German companies view their businesses in China positively and nearly half said they plan to increase their investment despite signs of weakening growth in the world's second-largest economy, a survey showed today.
According to the Business Confidence Survey conducted by the German Chamber of Commerce in China and Staufen AG, about 47 percent German companies in China said they are either positive or significantly positive on the business outlook for the remainder of 2013.
The rate was 30.2 percent a year earlier. As a result of such optimism, nearly 80 percent of respondents said they expect to reach their business targets for this year and 54 percent projected an increase in profits this year.
Only 16 percent companies said they expect less profit.
"Despite relatively weak economic growth in China so far this year, it is still much better than the conditions in 2012," said Titus Freiherr von dem Bongart, chairman of the board at the German Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai.
"Besides, China's industrial upgrading has created more growth opportunities for German companies, a lot of which are strong in technology and innovation."
The survey showed roughly every second company plan to increase their investment in China. Electronics and automotive industries are most eager to invest more.
Although German companies are largely optimistic, they find increasing challenges in finding and retaining qualified professionals as well as dealing with still loose intellectual property protection, rising labor costs and more competition from Chinese companies.