THIS time of year is normally peak season for Li Zimin, a strawberry farmer in Jiujiang, a city in Jiangxi on the outer edge of Hubei Province.

Li, 38, has 23 greenhouses covering 6 hectares, but his sales have plummeted, with customers staying at home to avoid virus contagion. Many of his now ripe strawberries might have to be thrown away, he said.

“The Spring Festival is supposed to be our best time,” he said.

“This year it has coincided with this, so there will definitely be losses,” he said of the coronavirus outbreak. “I just hope this epidemic can be over quickly. That way my strawberries can return to normal sales levels.”

Businesses across the country have been feeling the pinch, as authorities, in a bid to contain the virus, have implemented curbs on transportation and other tough public health measures that are already weighing heavily on the travel, tourism and retail sectors.

Many factories closed for the Lunar New Year break have delayed reopening — exceeding a three-day extension of the holiday that authorities imposed to prevent large public gatherings.

“So far 14 provinces and cities across China, including main industrial centers of Shanghai, Jiangsu, Guangdong and Fujian have told businesses not to reopen until at least Feb. 10. These places account for around 70 percent of China’s GDP and 80 percent of its exports,” analysts with Capital Economics said in a note, adding that extended factory closures would affect supply chains in the rest of Asia.

The biggest hit to the economy is likely to be from China’s army of consumers staying at home, observers said.

The 2019 Lunar New Year holiday saw retail and catering enterprises report combined sales of around US$150 billion, according to Xinhua. But this year, shopping malls, eateries and transport hubs were quiet.

Big-name high-street titans are also feeling the strain. Nike and clothing giant H&M have both closed half their stores in China, with the Swedish firm said a “short-term impact on sales is inevitable.”

Jewelry chain Pandora said there had been “an unprecedented decline in consumer traffic in China.” Apple and Starbucks have also shut down outlets.

Passenger volumes on air, rail, road and water transport plunged more than 70 percent from a year ago.

Analysts at Allianz and Euler Hermes warned the economic impact could surpass the SARS epidemic because private consumption is now a much more important driver of economic growth than in 2003.

As an extreme example, some poultry farmers in Hubei are having to euthanize young birds due to the paralyzed transport of feed supply and live animals to slaughterhouses.

Lacking feed for their birds, some farmers are feeding them less, while others are destroying some of their flock, according to a Hubei Poultry Association official, who declined to be identified.

“So many young birds were safely disposed of,” said the official, who didn’t say how many had been killed or how.

Provinces elsewhere have been impacted too, according to analysts. Hatcheries that sell day-old chicks or ducklings to farmers to raise are especially hard hit. With severe restrictions on transport, farmers are unable or unwilling to buy new chicks to restock their farms, said Dong Xiaobo, China general manager for France’s Orvia, China’s second-biggest supplier of breeding ducks.

Many slaughterhouses are also operating at reduced capacity because they cannot find sufficient labor, said Pan Chenjun, senior analyst at Rabobank.

(SD-Agencies)