Corporate leaders say virus isn't the end of the world...

Corporate leaders say virus isn't the end of the world

Australian business leaders warned of the danger of succumbing to the coronavirus panic sweeping the world, including Telstra chairman John Mullen, who said COVID-19 wouldn't be worse than influenza for most people.

As Qantas Airways became the most high-profile corporate victim of the epidemic, other leading companies tried to reassure Australians that trade with China is operating mostly normally and there was no need for a consumer spending strike.

"The level of overreaction to what's going on is just a level I would never have expected for something," Mr Mullen told The Australian Financial Review Business Summit in Sydney on Tuesday.

"Obviously it's a terrible thing, But the average person, if you're under 60, it's not worse than the flu and yet it's turning our economies completely on their heads."

Retail giant Wesfarmers and iron ore supplier Fortescue Metals Group said there were already signs that parts of business in China are returning to normal, or were never significantly disrupted.

"To be honest in the last few weeks we've seen an improvement so we've started to see factories in China get back on line," Wesfarmers chief executive Rob Scott said.

Fortescue Metals Group CEO Elizabeth Gaines said the iron ore trade with China hadn't been disrupted. Janie Barrett

"We've seen supply chains free up and the shipping lines improve. So whilst there's been a bit of a delay in getting product in it's been improving.

"What's concerning us is more the global and domestic impacts on the demand side. Then there will be a recession. If they don't travel there will be a recession."

Fortescue chief executive Elizabeth Gaines said she didn't want to be complacent, but "at the moment we are still seeing strong demand for seaborne iron ore" – one of Australia's biggest exports.

"There's no change to payment terms," she said. "Our customers are still producing steel. So largely it's business as usual."