Employees at Pingyao Beef Group inspect products before they are delivered to markets. LIU JIAQIONG / FOR CHINA DAILY
A local agricultural service company uses its tractors to water a wheat field in Xicheng county.
Financial institutions in North China's Shanxi province are taking steps to support local businesses in resuming operation by offering incentivized lending and facilitation measures, according to local media reports.
Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus epidemic, businesses in Shanxi have faced difficulties due to a shortage of labor force, inadequate funding and lack of access to logistics.
In Pingyao, one of the counties hardest hit by the epidemic, local companies have been under great pressure－their operations are the latest to resume.
Pingyao Beef Group is one of the largest food companies in the county. Lei Bingyi, board chairman of the company, said its operations were put on hold for nearly a month.
"All the 1,000-or-so staff members were required to stay at home for quarantine or medical observation," Lei said.
"It's lucky that no confirmed or suspected cases have been reported among our employees," he added.
The company resumed operations on March 10 as the situation improved in Pingyao.
While only half of the workers are back to work, Lei said the largest difficulty is that there is no cash flow in the company.
"Sales have decreased dramatically and we have to pay our employees even if they are still at home," said the executive.
Fortunately, the difficulty in funding is expected to be solved with the support of local financial institutions.
The Shanxi branch of the People's Bank of China－the financial regulator in Shanxi－released a proposal on Feb 7, requiring local financial institutions to offer preferential loans to key enterprises in the province. Lei's company is on the list of priority borrowers.
Pingyao Beef received a loan of 10 million yuan ($1.43 million) from the Shanxi branch of China Construction Bank, with a preferential interest rate of 3.15 percent.
The company later obtained loans from other local banks, with total lending hitting 140 million yuan, all at a rate of 3.15 percent.
Lei said with the support of the banks and a recovering market, the company's operations can get back to normal.
Companies engaged in the production of medicines and supplies for epidemic prevention and control have been prioritized by local financial institutions.
Datong-based Sinopharm Weiqida Pharmaceutical is a key enterprise producing medicines for the epidemic.
The company has obtained loans from several banks in Shanxi, with the lowest interest rate at 2 percent, far lower than standard market rate, according to Shi Guizhong, financial manager of the company.
The loan packages to the company totaled 180 million yuan, according to Shi.
The procedure for applying for lending has been greatly streamlined.
"It took only two days for the Shanxi branch of Agricultural Bank of China to approve a loan of 50 million yuan, after quickly examining our financial situation and qualification," Shi said.
The Shanxi branches of the Agricultural Development Bank of China and Postal Saving Bank of China have shifted their focuses to serve local small and medium-sized enterprises.
Tiantian Restaurant in Xiyang county is an SME in Shanxi under great pressure.
With no business for more than a month, the company needed to pay more than 200,000 yuan to its employees, according to Tian Yulian, general manager of Tiantian.
Adding to this difficulty, the restaurant must pay 80,000 yuan a month to the Xiyang branch of Postal Serving Bank of China as principal and interest.
Tian tried to report the difficult situation to the bank. To his surprise, the bank agreed to reduce the repayment amount to 36,000 yuan for six months.
The bank's staffers even helped the restaurant sell vegetables by posting sales information on WeChat.
Tian said the restaurant has sold more than 3 metric tons of vegetables with the help of the bank's staff members.
(責編：趙芳、常慧忠)