Also, one third of companies operating in the retail, logistics and transport sectors put some projects on hold, and nearly 59% of them expect a decline in rental rates in the next 12 months, due to a scaledown in logistics operations.
As per the survey, 85% of retail sector companies say they were affected by the current context, and 54% believe the impact is minor compared to other markets. One third of them say they felt the effects due to employees’ absence, 28% to delivery restrictions, 16% to problems related to supply flows and 13% due to halts in production.
According to experts, local production spaces will see significant growth, and even firms in China will be interested in developing production centers in Europe, including in Romania.
“On the medium and long term, distribution chains will be restructured, in the sense that producers and logistics companies will probably focus on local and regional suppliers to avoid halting or reducing raw material supply in the future. The business perspective of large companies will remain global, but it will be supported primarily by local and regional resources, especially if such business decisions are also backed by legislative amendments. Warehouses will be decentralized and market players will choose to hold smaller warehouses in various countries, instead of a large central warehouse from where to deliver merchandize towards different markets”, said Laurentiu Duica, Partner & Head of Industrial Agency at Colliers International.
The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic long-term will probably result in restructuring the supply chain, according to 69% respondents, being followed by delays in merchandise flows (59%) and an increase in the storage capacity (31%). Only 10% of companies in the industrial and logistics sectors believe there will not be major consequences.
One of the effects of the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic will be changes in the commercial ties with China, with 43% of respondents expecting a different approach in the industrial and logistics sectors, especially in terms of imports and warehouses in the EU. 45% believe these changes will be on the short term and 13% expect no changes. However, it is too early to assess the post-pandemic impact on commercial ties, but experts say most market players expect a rebalancing of commercial ties with China. For Romania, this could mean a redistribution of new production units for European markets.
Along with the closure of some stores, a significant percentage of sales moved to the online, with 75% of respondents saying they recorded increases on this segment, therefore, companies in the industrial and logistics sectors are now looking to invest in online platforms and in diversifying sales channels in order to better handle the risks associated to the current context.