BERLIN, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Fifty-six percent of German companies are already feeling the negative effects of the novel coronavirus, according to a company survey published by the ifo Institute on Thursday.
In Germany's important manufacturing sector, the share of companies that feel the negative effects of the epidemic is 63 percent, according to the survey of 3,400 German industrial, trading and service companies.
"The German economy is suffering considerably from the consequences of the corona epidemic," the ifo Institute noted.
Around 76 percent of the affected companies in the German manufacturing sector have canceled or delayed business trips, according to the survey. Difficulties with the supply of intermediate products or raw materials, the impairment of the business activities of subsidiaries abroad as well as a decline in demand have also had a dampening effect on business.
In the manufacturing sector, Germany's electrical and mechanical engineering companies as well as furniture and chemicals producers have been affected the most, according to the ifo Institute.
The German retail sector is hit just as hard, with 63 percent of companies reporting that business activities are "suffering." According to the survey, delays or shortfalls in deliveries in purchasing are causing the "biggest problems," followed by a decline in demand and delayed or canceled business trips.
Germany's services sector is also experiencing the negative effects of the coronavirus. The ifo Institute noted that the main reason is a decline in demand, "especially because trade fairs and congresses have been canceled and orders or reservations have been reversed."
The ifo Institute also found that "there is also a massive decline in tourism." The situation is the worst for Germany's tour operators and travel agencies, 96 percent of which are "negatively affected."
Only 2.2 percent of all German companies mentioned the coronavirus' "positive effect" on their business activities, according to the ifo survey.
