Tradeshift Inc., a San Francisco-based payments firm, announced that cross border and domestic supply chain payments in China fell by more than half in mid-February following the coronavirus outbreak. The data shows that trade activity in the region fell by 56% during the week of February 16th, following steady declines related to coronavirus. The report also found that domestic supply chains were seriously impacted, as orders between firms in the country fell 60%. International orders fell 50% during the same period. 

"The sheer speed at which the coronavirus took hold in China has sent a shockwave through the delicate ecosystem of complex supply chains spanning the globe," Christian Lanng, chief executive officer at Tradeshift, said in a company release. "Inflexibility does not deal well with uncertainty, and as the virus threatens to become a pandemic, many businesses are finding that their inability to identify and connect with alternative suppliers quickly enough is having a tangible impact on production."

He said Ttradeshift was actively working with customers to build supply chain contingency plans. 

Tradeshift, which connects more than 1.5 million companies across 190 countries worldwide, said it is one of the few Western technology companies to have a license to operate in China.