By Eduardo Baptista, Rachel More and Toby Sterling
BEIJING/BERLIN/AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -Automotive suppliers were rushing for exemptions to Chinese export restrictions on Nexperia chips on Monday, hoping for a political solution to a trade stand-off that has caused alarm over possible production stoppages in the car industry.
A fight over Nexperia, which makes large volumes of basic chips used in cars, threatens to halt car assembly lines after the Netherlands seized control of the Dutch company due to concerns about its Chinese parent Wingtech.
Fuelling hopes for a political solution, China said on Saturday it would consider exemptions to the chip exports affected by the Dutch move.
ZF, AUMOVIO AMONG SUPPLIERS SEEKING RELIEF
Germany’s ZF said it was working with Chinese authorities in a bid to secure chip deliveries after having flagged earlier on Monday that it was preparing to furlough workers if the supply crunch worsens.
“ZF is in contact with the relevant authorities in China via its Chinese unit and is doing everything necessary to get chip deliveries back on track,” a spokesperson for the company said.
Aumovio has also sought exemptions from Beijing and has submitted an application with the Chinese commerce ministry, a person familiar with the matter said.
A spokesperson for Aumovio declined to comment.
Companies have welcomed signs of easing in the trade dispute. But industry sources said they remained concerned by the potential complexity of the bureaucratic process to apply for exemptions and the lack of clarity regarding when they might be granted.
“China did open up the regulations a little bit for the export of stock,” said Dominik Zillner of Components at Service, a German-based electronics component distributor.
He added, however, that this could only be done with special permission from the Chinese commerce ministry.
China’s foreign ministry on Monday said all parties “should uphold the spirit of contracts and the principles of market orientation” and “safeguard the security and stability” of the global semiconductor industry and supply chains.
PRODUCTION STILL AT RISK, FURLOUGH MEASURES PLANNED
Europe’s top carmaker, Volkswagen, has not been able to guarantee production at its German sites beyond this week, while supplier Bosch has registered plans to furlough workers at its Salzgitter site due to squeezed supply.
ZF said it was also preparing for such measures as a precaution, adding it was unclear to what extent and at what speed deliveries from China could resume.
(Additional reporting by Ilona Wissenbach in Frankfurt and Brenda Goh in Shanghai, Editing by Christoph Steitz, Miranda Murray, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Joe Bavier)
