What are global companies saying about China's economy?

(Reuters) - Major global firms ranging from banks to chipmakers are taking a largely cautious stance on their China business amid a frail recovery at the world's second-largest economy from a pandemic slowdown.

Following are comments from some of the top firms on their China business during the latest reporting season:

Haleon The Sensodyne maker said sales from Fenbid pain reliever gel

doubled in China in the first half.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) The coffeehouse chain saw a sharp recovery in China, with

third-quarter comparable sales surging 46%.

Merck & Co The drugmaker said use of Gardasil in China was the biggest

growth driver for the human papillomavirus vaccine.

Marriott The U.S. hotel operator said rebounding demand in China

International boosted its earnings.

Toyota The automaker said foreign exchange rate fluctuations and

its response to price cuts in China hurt its results there.

Panasonic (OTC:PCRFY) The battery supplier said it saw no sign of a full-fledged

recovery in the factory automation sector in China, and that

it would take more time for areas such as servers, data

centres and ICT to recover overall.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) The Tide detergent maker reported a 1% drop in its

fourth-quarter volumes, mainly due to weaker demand in the

Greater China region.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) "The China market, I think, has been well reported, hasn't

come back as strongly as people would have expected

overall," chipmaker Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said.

Volkswagen (ETR:VOWG_p) The German carmaker cut its full-year sales target after

sales dipped in China, its top market.

AbbVie Inc (NYSE:ABBV) The Botox maker said it has seen rates for aesthetics

treatments in China fully recover to pre-COVID levels and

continues to anticipate strong growth through the rest of

the year in the country.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Inbound cross-border travel to China stood at nearly 50% of

2019 levels, while outbound travel was nearly 70%, the

company said.

Anglo American (LON:AAL) The global miner said it has been surprised by how slow the

reopening of China has been but believed a recovery was

underway.

L'Oreal The Chinese market is "really picking up," although "not at

the speed everybody had hoped for," L'Oreal CEO Nicolas

Hieronimus told Reuters.

Mobileye Global Saw weak demand for its driver-assistance

technology in China.

Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO) The world's biggest iron ore producer struck a cautiously

optimistic tone on China as the government has pledged more

policies to boost growth.

Nissan (OTC:NSANY) CEO Makoto Uchida said China sales outlook for the automaker

was now falling far below production capacity.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) The company saw strong demand for some juice business in

China but also flagged destocking activity in the second

quarter.

LG Energy The company warned it faces weaker EV demand in China than

Solution previously expected.

Thermo Fisher (NYSE:TMO) The company witnessed significantly slower economic activity

Scientific in China during the second quarter. "We think it's

appropriate to assume that this condition remains in place

for the remainder of the year," said CFO Stephen Williamson.

Visa (NYSE:V) "Looking at Mainland China specifically, cross-border travel

continued to improve but remains well below 2019 levels,"

CFO Vasant Prabhu said.

LVMH The French luxury giant logged a strong rebound in China

during the second quarter.

3M Co The industrial conglomerate flagged continued weak appetite

for consumer electronics demand in China.

GE Healthcare The company saw improved demand for medical equipment in the

region in the recent quarter and that is expected to

continue as China prioritizes improved healthcare access

following the end of the pandemic. 

Dow Inc The chemical maker said the anticipated rebound following

the end of pandemic curbs has yet to fully materialize.

EssilorLuxottica The luxury eyewear maker continued to benefit from a

recovery in China during the second quarter.

NXP (NASDAQ:NXPI) The chipmaker said China's export curbs on certain gallium

Semiconductors and germanium products did not impact the company.

ABB The engineering firm witnessed fewer new orders from China

in the quarter and said some customers were shifting

investments to other parts of Asia due to geopolitical

tensions.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) The lender called it the "biggest disappointment" as growth

decelerated after an initial post-reopening pop.