Employees from the SAIC Motor work on the assembly line at its Lingang factory in Shanghai, April 23, 2022. [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/chinadaily.com.cn]

A number of industries and enterprises playing a key role in the nation's industrial and supply chains have restored their production amid Shanghai's battle with COVID-19, in an effort to ensure the smooth flow of important production materials along the industrial chain, municipal government officials said on Friday.

Since the start of this week, 70 percent of the city's 666 key enterprises have resumed operations, with their capacity utilization continuing to rise, Zhang Wei, vice-mayor of Shanghai, said during a news conference on Friday.

Vehicles produced at the SAIC Motor and Tesla plants are constantly rolling off the production lines, manufacturers of related parts and components have also restarted production, and carmakers are working to resume both their production capacity and efficiency, said Zhang, adding that key enterprises in the integrated circuit and chemicals sectors are running at a comparatively high level of capacity utilization.

Apart from being an important international gateway, Shanghai is also a key point in industrial and supply chains at home and abroad.

To be more specific, the city is China's key industrial hub for automotive vehicles, parts and components, and 70 percent of the nation's imported raw materials used in the integrated circuit and chemical industries are shipped via Shanghai, said Wu Jincheng, director of the Shanghai Commission of Economy and Informatization.

"We are providing full support to the production resumption of large-scale industries and enterprises that are vital in the industrial and supply chains of the Yangtze River Delta region as well as China as a whole," said Zhang.

Wu Gang, vice-general manager of Shanghai Chlor-Alkali Chemical Co Ltd, which is under Shanghai Huayi Group Corp Ltd, said, "We have so far restored 80 percent of our production capacity, up from half when the latest outbreak started in mid-March, so that production at downstream multinational corporations including BASF, Covestro and Huntsman can continue."

"Thanks to the improvement in logistics, a certain amount of production capacity has resumed. Continuous output is extremely important for chemical production, as disruptions will also increase safety and environmental protection costs," Wu said.

"We believe more corporations will restart their production as the spread of the contagion is brought under control. And measures adopted by these key enterprises will accumulate experience for all companies during their operation and COVID-19 prevention," said Zhang, vice-mayor of Shanghai.

Wu from the Shanghai Commission of Economy and Informatization said following the resumption of production of automobiles and related key parts and components, the city will gradually promote other enterprises in key sectors, such as biomedicine, electronics and information, machinery, shipbuilding and marine engineering, advanced materials and consumer products, to restart their operations.