As managing director of Oldenburger China, I head the DMK team in Shanghai and help develop strategic goals, achieve sales, profitability and growth for the company. Our team gradually adapted to working from home, which is going quite well and fast thanks to online communication.
What was really nice was that my husband and I spent more time with the family - and I improved my cooking skills. We had a WeChat group in our building to help each other out or ask questions. One young neighbor wrote: “Can someone lend me a set of bowls and sauces? I don’t have any since I usually have groceries delivered.” He had never cooked for himself before! Some people never learned how to prepare something quickly because they just order something to eat after work or are spoiled by the many delivery service options or street food available. Fortunately, I had quite a bit stocked up in the fridge and freezer during the lockdown. The government also regularly sent free food and household items.
Nevertheless, I hope that the pandemic will soon come to an end and trade between countries will return to normal. The Consumer Price Index, meaning the average price of various consumer goods and services, which is used to determine inflation, was around 2 percent in October, similar to in the US and Europe. That has led to extremely tough negotiations with customers, as we have to raise prices to compensate for the rising milk price and production costs. The good news is that demand for dairy products is very high in China. So we are on the lookout for suitable products for the market and hope that the world economy will grow and trade relations return to normal again.