Chinese construction companies are looking to the Middle East in the wake of a domestic property slowdown, but are running into roadblocks in the unfamiliar market.
“Saudi Arabia now is like China 30 years ago,” a Shenzhen-based contractor told Caixin, as infrastructure spending in the region booms.
But Chinese builders said they’ve grown frustrated — particularly in Saudi — by strict contractual terms, fierce competition, and rules around local hiring requirements and ESG standards, which aren’t common in China.
It’s another setback for China’s property sector following a prolonged slump, which Beijing hopes to offset by boosting manufacturing.
But the country’s real estate market is so “absolutely gargantuan” that the entire economy is suffering, an Economist editor told Bloomberg’s Odd Lots podcast.