Fast Retailing, Asia’s largest clothing retailer and owner of the Uniqlo fashion brand, said it expects profits in China to plummet this year as the country warns about the impact of Covid-19 restrictions.

“In terms of profits and employee livelihoods, our zero-epidemic policy toward China is very unfavorable,” Masao Yanai, chief executive of the Japanese group, which is seen as a benchmark for multinational companies’ performance in China, told reporters. Thursday.

“Shanghai was forced to suspend operations, making it difficult to transport from the port,” he added.

Yanai’s blunt speech comes as a series of lockdowns in cities across China have added to the pressure on the country’s transportation and logistics, compounding the economic fallout of the government’s policies to contain the coronavirus.

Fast Retailing’s Greater China business, which includes Hong Kong and Taiwan, accounts for 55% of its international operating profit, and the company said on Thursday it had reached 100.3 billion yen (801 million yen) in the six months to February. Dollar).

Mainland China is the company’s largest market, with 863 stores, compared with 802 in its home market. In March, its 133 stores in China, including the store in Shanghai. strict lockdown measures All in place, forced to close.

International apparel brands including H&M and Nike, already affected by consumer boycotts after moving away from Xinjiang cotton, have also warned that the blockade will weigh on their business in China.

Despite the setback, Fast Retailing raised its net profit forecast for the year to the end of August to 190 billion yen ($1.5 billion). That’s up 9 percent from the 175 billion yen forecast previously forecast in January, as profits are expected to improve in Europe, North America and the rest of Asia.

Yanai also warned about the impact of the outbreak yen weakensAgainst the dollar this week, it fell to its lowest level in nearly two decades on the back of rising shipping and raw material costs.

“A weak yen has no value. From the perspective of Japan as a whole, there are only downsides,” Yanai said.

“Japan is in the business of importing raw materials, processing, adding value and selling them from all over the world. In this case, if a country’s currency depreciates, there is no advantage.”