Here in Shanghai the streets are quiet and eerily empty this week. Is there some sort of disease outbreak like SARS going on?
No, but there’s an event just as impactful in China – Chinese New Year.
During the past few weeks and next couple weeks, normally responsive Chinese suppliers will go silent and not responsive to your RFQs and emails.
So to help you better understand why things shut down for up to A MONTH in china during the “Spring Festival” I’d like to share two articles with you.
First “Chinese New Year best practices” and what you can do to prepare and minimize the disruption.
Granted we are already in the middle of the holiday now, it may still be useful to understand why factories will be sluggish after they return. I call it the CNY hangover.
https://www.8020sourcing.com/chinesenewyear/
Also to plan ahead this year so you’re not surprised by the next Chinese holiday, I’ve created a 2019 China Public holidays calendar (Downloadable). You can download and plug it into your own calendar on your smartphone or laptop so you can see the holidays coming.
Often times the Chinese suppliers themselves will not be aware of them because the dates change every year.
https://www.8020sourcing.com/80-20-sourcing-2019-chinese-public-holiday-calendar/
Wishing you a happy, healthy, successful, and blessed new year!
Gary
PS: are you planning to visit china this year? I’m thinking of organizing a tour of a local trade show or yiwu marketplace. Are you interested in this? Hit reply and let me know.
