How Will Chinese New Year Holidays Impact on International Trade

Chinese New Year/Spring Festival is the most important holiday in China. Chinese people have a tradition of getting together during the Spring Festival to celebrate the New Year. The first date of the holiday is on the first day of January in the lunar calendar. However, the Gregorian calendar date is not fixed every year. For example, it is on Jan 22nd in 2023, on Feb 10th in 2024, on Jan 29th in 2025.

Although the holidays usually last 7~15days, it has an impact on international trade for 30days period, that is, 15days before the first date of the holiday and 15days after the first date of the holiday.

Why 15days before?
1.Factories will close for holidays earlier than the holidays start.
2.Logistics will close, because the truck drivers will go home for holidays in advance. It becomes very hard to find a driver on duty as the date approaches the holidays.
3.When it is getting close to holiday, it is hard to book a shipping space from the vessel company. Sometimes, even an empty container is not available.
4.Even if you can successfully book a shipping space and finally get an empty container, the shipping prices and other costs become higher.

Why 15days after?
1.After the holidays, workers will gradually return to the factory to work. However, many workers put off their return to the factory and usually do not return to the factory until the Lantern Festival (The fifteenth day of the first lunar month). Then the factories will resume normal production.

My advice
1.If you want a shipment before Chinese New Year, and for example, the production lead time is 30days,  considering the 15days peroid, you need to place the order at least 45days ahead.

2.If you have placed an order, the factory has finished production, but failed to catch the shipment before Chinese New Year, and then the new shipping date will be after the Lantern Festival.

3.If you have placed an order and the factory has not produced the goods before the holidays, you need to count the production lead time starting from the Lantern Festival.