ability issues are commonplace. i'm chelsea delaney and berlin. welcome to the show . china's economy extent expanded by a better than expected 4.8 percent in the 1st 3 months of the year. but the outlook for the world's 2nd biggest economy is darkening as china resorts to harsh locked downs and shanghai and other cities to contain coven 19 outbreaks. the chinese economy had its strongest growth in 10 years and 2021. a thanks largely to surging exports. g d, p growth was as high as 18.3 percent, and the 1st 3 months of last year as they recovered from the 1st pandemic head. but growth has been flowing, as you can see in recent quarters. today's 4.8 percent g d p increase indicates it's going to be tough for china to head it's 5.5 percent g d p target for the full year. now my colleague clifford kuhn in our resident, china expert joins me now in the studio. clifford,

thanks so much for being with me to break this down. so it's a, this is state is a bit of a mixed bag. they're saying it's better than expected, but at the same time as we clearly just saw, growth is slowing. what's behind that? that slow down. well, i think the, the 2 main factors behind these as a better than expected figures, but still pretty weak when you consider the 5.5 percent growth target. the government has the, the main things we've seen has been a combination of the 0 coven policy, where there's been a clamp down people locked in their homes known and go out. and also then this is combined with the effect of the war in the u. cra in, in ukraine, which is also hitting growth. so what sectors are suffering the most right now? well, what we're seeing is hitting real estate exports, retail sales. it's, it's pretty much across the board. new home sales tumble by 29 percent last month, which is which is a pretty serious decline. given that the real estate sector is so important to the overall economy. and as we know, it already has problems to deal with from the ever ground debt problem collapse.

and so we're dealing with that they're dealing with putting out fires in the real estate sector at the same time, passenger car sales, we're down 10 percent in april, which is after the current round of data, which i think gives us an idea of how things are going to be looking forward and then the 0 covert effect is, is causing all kinds of supply chain issues. we're seeing the ports are completely clogged. and if you imagine like in a lot of chinese factories, a lot of workers live on the factories. and during this, these locked down, they've actually been working while living there. they just created these kind of bubbles and i'm working in that, which is great. but once you produce the good, how do you get them out? and if the truck driver, for example, is locked in his apartment on the outskirts of shanghai, he can, he can come and pick it up. so his religious sticks and supply chain issues which are, which are causing a lot of trouble. so we, we did hear today from some companies, tesla volkswagen for example, that they are going to be able to restart production in shanghai in other cities in china soon. what is the outlook here? are we, there is,

is there no end in sight for these locked down that are causing problems for so many businesses, so many people here will, we've had 3 weeks of this. and again, it's a bit mixed. you know, because it, you have the government is $552000000000.00 and covered relief with mostly focused on on companies as a tesla and, and, and volkswagens chinese partner talking about restarting. but even then it's still a bit stop start and nobody knows how long, how it's going to work, how they're going to because a lot of things have to happen at once. and for them to start getting the cars out of the factories, for example. and you know, the government is also introduce some forms of corporate income tax relief value out of tax relief. and there's various things which could help. but at the moment, the message from the central government in beijing seems to be that the lockdown is here to stay. that until micron is defeated and it's been presented as a political struggle almost just very briefly, if you can. what does this mean politically for is using paying, who does is facing a real later this year?

well, it's a big year this year under this year in october he will confirm he's expected to confirm his 3rd talk home president, a 3rd term as leader. and he needs everything to be in place and everything to be smooth for that to happen. so this is certainly a kind of upset that he won't want to be happening at this stage of the year. clifford conan, are china expert. thanks so much for breaking this down for me. now we're all seeing prices rising in our grocery electricity and petrol bills. but the paper, those bills are printed on is also surging and cost. our next report takes us to finland, where once mighty printing houses are struggling as inflation quite with a long running decline and demand for paper. printing houses all over europe are working at full capacity again. newspapers and magazines are selling at almost pre panoramic levels. at the sun m l. a printing house in the finished capital, helsinki print volumes of state steady compared to the 20 percent rise. other print

companies are reporting from last year. at the same time production costs have risen, says economist modded lindstrom thought of the pool. elena had go spend with becky at the rising costs of these products have to do with higher energy prices, as well as the current high costs in logistics services. lucas, the bali, the vehicle spinal spend off. another reason why paper has become more expensive and scar, sir, for paper mills and finland have closed in recent years, the owners had noticed the demand for digital products rising and correspondingly, the demand for paper declining around 5 percent annually. in addition, the beginning of this year saw the paper workers union call for a strike. at 4 other mills, the union insisted that way to stay at previously agreed levels, with no cuts in pay. thought you had a mind, ma,

monica lamar would then give you my local paper market still need 10 such millions of tons of fine paper on them all. even if demand is declining, mcgowan was but we are asking, where do you want to have it manufacturer? it's pretty updated here, buddy or elsewhere, was to put when i was with us on monica because i lost it in a country we're 75 percent of the surface is covered and forest. raw materials are plenty as a result of the insecurities plaguing the industry. some mills have switched from manufacturing paper to pulp and cardboard. polyps is sold mainly to the asian market where demand for sanitary paper is growing rapidly. packaging materials are expected to take up 2 thirds of to paper industries, global output by the end of 2022. now to some of the other global business stories making news, ukrainian, president philadelphia. lensky has held a call with i. m f chief crystelina,

georgia, about ukraine's postwar reconstruction. later this week, ukrainian prime minister dennis shem hall, is due to a 10 both meetings of the i enough and the world bank in washington, where he will seek further financial assistance for ukraine. around 200000 people in moscow are likely to lose their jobs due to foreign companies leaving, or suspending operations in russia. that's according to the city's mayor, sergey of yanine, global firms from across the world of business have been leaving russia since the beginning of the war and ukraine. long hughes of russian and belarus trucks remain at the polish bowers border after a deadline for them to leave the you territory passed on saturday. the e has band lori's from the 2 countries as part of its sanctions package. although those carrying petroleum medicine or mail can remain now the chocolate easter bunny you 8 yesterday may have ground,

may have been made from cocoa crown on a farm in gonna the world's 2nd biggest producer. the chocolate industry has long been criticized for using child labor and for contributing to deforestation. a proposed ease supply chain loss seeks to ensure companies here, source only fare and sustainably made cocoa. it's time to harvest the cocoa beans on bismark, i get comes 5 picked their plot in ghana. it should be enough to guarantee a good harvest, but he struggles to make a living. now you are not cultivated cocoa, on a larger scale. i need help with things like fertilizer and pesticides. one me, i hope the government raises the price of a cocoa beans and i will cool it to me asking b. b, i'm with an government has decided to intervene in the cocoa industry and it's regulating prices to help farmers earn more. but it's not enough. even with the measures,

things like fertilizers are unaffordable. he also grows bananas to ensure that his 6 children have enough to eat. the 52 year old is just one of 2000000 independent farmers who grow the overwhelming majority of cocoa produced in western africa. in his village, the white cocoa beans up processed his children help but this mark, i get them says he makes sure that they are only given simple tasks and that they still go to school. lead him, who are you? any man? i sure my wife and the children how the work is done with it. then we have it together and we all benefit from it. it helps take care of my family. it's emmy at any moment now, but on many family farms, children are forced to do heavy work, even if it's illegal. they have to carry heavy sacks or work with pesticides or a machete. according to a study carried out by the university of chicago,

more than one and a half 1000000 children in ghana and neighboring ivory coast are affected. human rights abuses like child labor, malnutrition, or exploitation have been known to be commonplace, mckoko industry for years. the european union is the world's largest importer of cocoa beans. more than 50 percent of all global production was sent to the e u last year. and the same problems plague other resources like coffee, palm oil soybeans or rubber. the u commission now wants to hold companies that purchase these raw materials to account with a new supply chain law. firms will be obliged to ensure their employees have decent, pay, and conditions, and environmental standards are adhered to. given the consumers, interest companies have been trying since some time to better control the possible impacts of day activities on human wires, the environment and climate. it is a matter of reputation for them. so ever, we need

a larger scale of companies to bring more effective improvement to the living conditions of people and the environment. this larger scale cannot be achieved was voluntary measures only. among other things, the proposed bill would compel companies to sign up to a human rights agreement. they'd then be obliged to monitor their supply chains, making sure work as a treated fairly and paid accordingly, and to limit environmental damage to law, but also open the door for workers to seek financial compensation from companies that neglect their obligations. and before you go, the other forward, a massive container ship was finally re floated on sunday. after being stuck in the u. s. east coast chesapeake bay for 4 weeks. the ship was eventually dislodged. after nearly $500.00 of $5000.00 containers had to be removed to make it lighter and easier to shift. the ship is owned by the evergreen marine corp. that's the

same company that owns the container ship ever given which famously it blocked us suez canal last year and disrupted global trade for several days. and that's our show for more from us. you can check out t w dot com slash business until next time take care. ah ah, with

is math way more difficult in the space? we ask mathias malware on the international space station. we are curious to find out more. how do astronauts deal with weightlessness? and why is food and space actually spicier? today we are taking off with, with, ah, we've got some hot tips for your bucket list. romantic corners. check hot spot for food chairs and some great cultural memorials to boot w travel off. we go

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ah this is the every news the life from rural ukraine under renewed russian bombardment. missile strikes kill at least 7 in the western state of it. sal claims it's targeting military infrastructure, but ukrainian official say civilians have also been hit. also coming up, we fight to the end. that's the message from defender still holding out in the besieged port city of valuable which is facing a make or break moment. and while churches in russia support.