An enterprise in Huzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, received the nation's first Certificate of Force Majeure from the local branch of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade on Sunday, making it the first in China to obtain such documentation due to the ongoing novel coronavirus pneumonia.

Huzhou Huida Machinery Manufacturing Co Ltd, which mainly produces shucks for steering gears for Peugeot SA in France, was unable to supply the 10,000 sets of products per week on time as previously scheduled, due to late resumption of production caused by the epidemic.

"Such certificate will help reduce our economic losses by at least 30 million yuan ($4.28 million)," said a manager with the Huzhou company.

"So far, at least three or four local manufacturing or exporting enterprises have consulted us about such certificates, and we will try our best to protect such enterprises in line with related rules and requirements, to reduce their economic losses to the minimum level," said Ding Guming, director of legal affairs with the Huzhou council.