While the western world celebrates Christmas and prepares to receive January 1, the new year of 2022, our country is hoping to celebrate the Chinese New Year, also called "Spring Festival" or "Lunar New Year", which is the most significant celebration in China. This festival falls on a different date each year since it is on the second new moon after the winter solstice and the celebrations last approximately two weeks, concluding with the “Lantern Festival”.
The Spring Festival is the time of the year when all Chinese factories completely suspend their production so that workers return to their villages and can spend time with their families. In this important New Year's ritual we hold banquets, celebrate and visit our family members, wishing each other the best of luck for the coming year.
We don’t care about emergencies or any other requirement in relation to the orders in this period, however important they are. It is not only that suppliers will not attend, but also that international logistics and other services cease to provide support until the end of the holiday.
In 2022, Chinese factories will start the holidays from
January 31 to February 15. Some suppliers even go on vacation before the official date and in January production will be practically suspended, which is why
many suppliers stop accepting new orders from December.
The Chinese horoscope of 2022 will be Tiger. From Feb. 1, 2022 to Jan. 21, 2023, will be a Year of Tiger.
This, plus the excess demand for Chinese merchandise from the rest of the world in the peak season, is a very inconvenient situation for importers. Some who are not aware of this holiday order too late and miss important deadlines, which can be a serious problem for seasonal products.
To avoid serious delays in their supply chain, products should be ready by mid-January at the latest, if you want your cargo to leave China before the holidays, as long as space is reserved days before that date: reserving and securing the space in the first weeks of January is a fundamental step.
It should also be noted that another main phenomenon that occurs before, during and after Chinese New Year is the increase in transport costs together with the shortage of containers and the delay in transit time, which have been the most serious consequences of the pandemic.
Not all Chinese suppliers will reactivate their production at full capacity on the same day as the industrial reopening. Suppliers usually have accumulated orders received before the holiday in line to go into production, therefore, new orders that importers place after the New Year will not be scheduled until the previous orders are finalized. Pay attention that from mid-February onwards, a collapse in Chinese ports and airports is quite possible and therefore shipments may be delayed more frequently as well.
For more advice on forecasting and planning your imports from China, contact us now!
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