Last year, affected by the overseas epidemic, Christmas orders suffered a serious impact. This year, Christmas orders for many foreign trade companies have increased significantly, but they generally face shipping difficulties.
“I’m a little busy now. The customer is inspecting the goods. I’ll chat with you in half an hour.” Recently, when a reporter called a small foreign trade company in Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, the owner Xiao Chen (pseudonym) looked a little tired, but his tone also revealed joy.
As my country’s foreign trade continues to recover, it seems that it has become the norm for foreign trade workers like Xiao Chen to be busy taking orders, producing, and inspecting goods all day long. “Last year’s export volume was about US$2 million, and this year it is expected to reach US$10 million.” The person in charge of a crayfish export company told reporters.
Judging from the growing order volume, the A-side of the foreign trade industry is indeed prosperous. However, shipping prices continue to rise, and containers are “hard to find”. This has also forced many foreign trade companies, especially small, medium and micro export companies, to face the B side of the industry with poor logistics and high freight costs.
About an hour later, Xiao Chen called the reporter back. Talking about recent business, Xiao Chen said, “The overall order situation this year is indeed much better than last year.” However, she changed the subject, “There is currently a serious shortage of containers. Affected by the epidemic since last year, many containers sent abroad cannot return. , which makes it difficult for us to ship goods now. Nowadays, the freight for a 40HQ container is at least US$15,000. We use FOB transaction method, and the freight is paid by the customer. Recently, there was an order from Germany. Although the customer ordered the container, he asked for it if he thought it was expensive. Shipments are on hold. In addition, some foreign trade colleagues pay the freight themselves, and sometimes a box of goods is not worth the freight of a container.” Gao Feng, spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce, said in August At a press conference on the 26th, it was stated that June to August every year is the peak period for Christmas supplies shipments, but this year, considering the risk of shipping delays, overseas customers generally place orders in advance by viewing the goods and signing orders online. Some orders have been shipped and delivered earlier than in previous years, and some orders have been backlogged in domestic warehouses due to difficulties in booking space or high freight charges, putting pressure on business operations.
Christmas orders: Overseas customers place orders 2 to 3 months early!
Zhejiang Yiwu International Trade City is home to hundreds of Christmas supplies merchants, and two-thirds of the world’s Christmas supplies come from here.
Zhang Zexing has been in the Christmas supplies business in Yiwu International Trade City for more than ten years. This year, he originally planned to stock up at the same pace as previous years, but unexpectedly, overseas customers placed orders 2 to 3 months earlier. “This year’s Christmas orders, customers placed their orders much earlier than in previous years, and now they have entered the shipping stage.” Zhang Zexing said.
Global Christmas supplies are mainly supplied by China, and Yiwu, as an important export base in China, plays the role of a “barometer”. Statistics from the Yiwu Bureau of Commerce show that in May, there were more inquiries from foreign investors in Yiwu for various new Christmas pendants, Christmas stickers, Christmas ornaments, etc., and orders increased.
Dongguan is another important base for Christmas orders. Xu Boyang, general manager of Dongguan Fuliju Home Gifts Co., Ltd., said, “This year, customers are indeed placing orders earlier than in previous years. We mainly produce mid-to-high-end products. Affected by the epidemic, the consumption power of European and American countries has also been affected, which has a great impact on our Christmas orders have had a certain impact, and our orders this year are relatively stable.”
Orders Rapid growth, troubled by “shipwreck”
For many foreign trade business owners, although Christmas orders have increased, they are generally faced with the real trouble of goods being shipped to sea.
Since the second half of 2020, European and American ports have been affected by the epidemic, resulting in slow returns of empty containers. Coupled with strikes, ship delays, and port congestion at some foreign ports, the shortage of containers has The phenomenon is more serious. Affected by multiple factors, shipping prices have been rising.
Some foreign trade companies said that international logistics prices have skyrocketed and congestion is so severe that millions of Christmas trees cannot leave for overseas in time. Companies with an annual export volume of about 150 million yuan are not allowed to Instead of spending 2 million yuan, rent a 10,000-square-meter warehouse specifically for stacking Christmas trees.
Where did the eaten profits go?
In addition to facing the difficulties of going overseas, due to the impact of multiple factors such as the epidemic, many domestic Christmas supplies companies are facing a situation where order profits are being eaten up this year.
Many unfavorable factors such as rising raw material prices, rising global freight costs, and poor transportation have affected the Christmas product exports of Chinese foreign trade companies. Many companies reported that they faced “some problems” during this year’s Christmas export peak period. business but no profit” situation.
Many heads of foreign trade companies said that the prices of this year’s Christmas orders have not changed much compared with previous years. This means that companies have to absorb the increase in raw material costs themselves. For many export-oriented manufacturing companies, on the one hand, the prices of upstream raw materials have soared, and on the other hand, the actual prices of downstream finished products cannot be raised, which has greatly squeezed the manufacturing profits caught in the middle. It is understood that since this year, textile and clothing raw materials have started to rise almost across the board. The prices of cotton yarn, staple fiber and other textile raw materials have been rising. The price of spandex has increased several times compared with the beginning of the year. The current price is high and volatile, and the product is still in short supply. After late June this year��, cotton has started a new round of upward trend, with a cumulative increase of more than 15% so far. The rise in raw material prices has gradually eroded the profits of garments, which has doubled the operating pressure of many garment processing companies.
In addition, the appreciation of the RMB has also significantly eroded the profits of export companies. Xiao Wendian, the person in charge of Yinhui Toys, calculated that due to the impact of the overseas epidemic this year, overseas orders have been fluctuating, and coupled with the sharp rise in the RMB exchange rate, the company is expected to have about 8% of its profits swallowed up.
Another headache for companies is recruitment. At its peak, Fuliju Company had 500 workers. Today, there are only dozens of workers. “Now the cost of recruiting workers is getting higher and higher, and young people are not willing to work in the factory.”
Under the influence of multiple factors, many foreign trade companies have been unable to place Christmas orders, and their profits have been almost eaten up. </p
