Chinese New Year holiday, which is an official national holiday, usually falls sometime between January and February, but the exact date changes each year. This year, it will start from 19th until 25th Feb. Actually, most factories will stop working earlier and reopen later than the officially stipulated date. For most factories, the New Year holiday will last for around 20 days. But for most office staff and government agency, they only have a 7-day holiday, as it is officially stipulated.
You might be wondering why those Chinese factories are quite different from other working staff, and their New Year holiday last much longer. Here below are some reasons for this:
1. In Chinese tradition, the New Year holiday is the most important holiday for celebration and reunion. Each year,this holiday lasts for at least 15 days, and this tradition has been inherited for thousands of years.
2. Even if the factory you order from is willing to follow the official time, their suppliers might not, therefore causing additional delays.
3. Most of the factories usually works 7 days a week, year in year out, they don’t have a weekend holiday or any other holidays the office guys enjoy. The New Year holiday is the only holiday the factory staff could enjoy freely, so they deserve a longer holiday once in a year.
4. Most factory staff are working far away from their home, some of them need to travel several days by train to come back to their workplace. Thus it takes time for the factory to recover normal production and delivery even after the scheduled reopen date.
For importers buying from China, you need to keep alert about this holiday before it comes to minimize its influence on your business. Here below are some tips:
1. Carefully Forecasting your Inventory and sales.
2. Place order earlier than you used to.
3. There will be an order peak during this period of time, you’d better have a strict agreement with your supplier on the delivery time.
Thank you for your time, and happy new year!
Posted on 15th January, 2015.
By Mandy Luo, from Luoyang Jin Feng Office Furniture Co., Ltd.