Businesses are resuming pre-coronavirus output in China, with Alibaba's (BABA 2.11%) delivery operations returning to normal staffing levels.
Cainiao, the global logistics company majority-owned by Alibaba, has returned to pre-coronavirus levels, an Alibaba spokesman told Bloomberg. The unit had suffered through a few weeks of transport disruptions which hurt shipments as the virus spread throughout the world.
Image source: Getty Images.
Cainiao's operations, which support Alibaba's huge eCommerce business, employs millions of delivery people and handles billions of packages daily. During the Global Shopping Festival in November, Cainiao delivered a record 1.29 billion packages. Ele.me, the meal delivery service owned by Alibaba and Freshippo, its grocery chain, is also delivering at normal levels again, according to Bloomberg.
The commentary from Alibaba comes as other Chinese companies express optimism they are returning to normal levels after an epidemic that wreaked havoc on the supply chain, quarantined millions of people, and dealt a blow to the global economy.
Foxconn, one of the main assemblers of Apple's (AAPL -0.09%) iPhone, said it expects production to be back to normal by the end of March. The company did warn there are still uncertainties regarding the virus and it's not clear how big of an impact the shutdown of production will have on its full-year earnings.
Meanwhile, JD.com (JD 2.25%), the Chinese eCommerce rival to Alibaba, forecast revenue growth of at least 10% for the current quarter, despite the coronavirus outbreak. Much of the sales likely came before the quarantines in China, but it does underscore the short term impact Chinese companies are feeling from the outbreak, at least in China.
