The upcoming Chinese New Year vs. Coronavirus

The time around Chinese New Year is a time in China when factories close down for about a month and blue-collar workers return home to spend the time with their families. In the upcoming year of 2023, Chinese New Year falls on January 22.

Due to the long closure of factories, the time before CNY is usually very busy, as many clients want to receive orders before CNY, or right after.

Until now, factories have typically closed about 7–10 days before CNY, so it could be expected that in 2023 they will be closed around January 12-15.

However, since this year the period preceding the Chinese New Year has unhappily coincided with a large increase in coronavirus infections and thus an increasing number of infected workers, many factories have decided to start the CNY-related break much earlier than usual, even as early as the end of December. As a result, this year, there is much less time to ship goods and process orders.

The problem also applies to orders that have already been confirmed, with delivery times planned for before CNY – unfortunately, many factories are forced to postpone delivery times to a later date. For many goods, the situation is still uncertain – it will only become clear a few days before loading whether the supplier is able to meet the set deadline, or not.

Coronavirus has already shown us more than once that nothing can be 100% planned. Currently, more than half of the workers in the factories we work with are infected and cannot go to work. There are also factories in China where almost everyone is already on sick leave.

Therefore, it appears that this month may be the last moment to place an order before CNY