By 2020, Walmart’s mechanical workshops, appliance factories, and electronic appliances manufacturing could lose up to $20 billion due to the steep decline in demand from China, according to a report by the International Trade Center.
The trade center’s report says Walmart, Home Depot, and other large manufacturers could lose as much as $7 billion in annual revenue in 2020, due to lower domestic demand.
The report says that Walmart could lose $2 billion in the first three months of 2021, $3 billion in November 2021, and $3.7 billion by December 2021.
Other companies could see $1.2 billion or more in losses in 2020.
The trade center predicts that the loss could be even greater in the fourth quarter of 2021.
The U.S. has about 80,000 electric vehicles in use, and the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Japan account for more than 50 percent of sales in China.
“The current downward trend in domestic demand has caused a drop in sales to the United States, which is now a net importer of imported goods,” the trade center said.
Walmart has seen an increase in sales in the past two years.
The company expects sales to grow at an annual rate of 8.3 percent in 2021.
The report, titled “Manufacturing Industry Outlook for 2020-2022,” predicts that demand for electronic appliances, including mechanical equipment, will increase by 7.4 percent to 1.4 million units.
Demand for mechanical equipment is forecast to rise by 2.5 percent to 2.2 million units, and demand for mechanical machinery is forecast increase by 3.2 percent to 3.9 million units by the end of 2021 due to better technology and a more competitive marketplace.
The industrial sector has grown at a faster rate than manufacturing in the U.K., France, and Germany, according the report.
China is expected to be the largest source of demand for U.M. products by 2020, according government data.