After zero-COVID, things aren't moving at full speed for several firms in China. According to CEO Jay Foreman, all 20 manufacturers in China with which American toy producer Basic Fun does the business have instructed staff members to refrain from reporting back to work immediately following the Lunar New Year break.
For the more than 170 million migrant workers in China, the holiday is frequently the only opportunity they have to travel back to their hometowns each year.
The Chinese Lunar New Year break officially concluded on Jan. 27, but travel is still permitted until Feb. 15. According to him, this is due to an abundance of inventory in the first half of last year that went unsold when U.S. consumer prices soared during the summer and into the fall. Tonka Trucks and Care Bears are among the products made by Basic Fun.
"Every factory I spoke to said they're going to have fewer people employed this year than last year," Foreman said. He predicts that later this year, U.S. consumer demand will increase.
As per data from China's customs that Wind Information has access to, around 6% of all exports from China to the U.S. fall into the area of toys, games, and sports. The data showed that in 2022, shipments of toys in that category to the United States somewhat decreased.
Based on China's customs data available through Wind Information, exports from China to the U.S. in the area of toys, games, and sports comprise around 6% of all exports to the nation. The statistics showed that in 2022, exports of toys in this category to the United States somewhat decreased.
Retail sales in the United States, China's biggest trading partner on a country-by-country basis, have decreased recently. In 2022, China's exports to the US hardly increased, and in 2023, it's anticipated that the US economy will continue to contract.
This is on top of the rising bilateral hostilities and tariffs over the past few years. Orders from certain American clients have vanished. "We expect we will continue to grow, but the pressure is very great," Ryan Zhao, director of Jiangsu Green Willow Textile, said.
Zhao said that his business was collaborating with a prestigious New York bedding and textile company that had declared bankruptcy the previous year. He claimed that the business is switching to less expensive products that are preferred by younger customers in order to survive in the "shrinking" industry.
Zhao will need to sell more products than previously in order to increase revenue, and in the next months, he expects to add 10 more local employees to his factory of 30 people in China.
