China energy crisis impacts USB and power bank supply
China is one of the latest countries to be impacted by the worldwide energy crisis, with coal-fired power supplies simply not able to keep up with the increase in demand across the globe as the economy reopens following Coronavirus lockdowns and restrictions.
Power outages have been reported across China, with production hubs, businesses and homes across 20 provinces suffering from blackouts over the past few weeks. To manage the supply issue without passing on the increase in cost to all residents, the Chinese Government have instructed energy firms to put in place a staggered blackout across the country to ration the power that is available across the worst affected regions, particularly in Guangdong, Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces. Essentially this means that production schedules are condensed into just a few working days per week, and lead times will be understandably lengthened dramatically due to this.
But what does this mean for the promotional product market? As with many industries across the world, the branded USB stick and promotional tech gift market is highly reliant on Chinese manufacturing for materials which make up promotional products. Whilst our factory in Shenzhen assembles and produces the end products, materials for shells and casings are produced and brought in from elsewhere across China, meaning we are seeing shortages for materials already and longer lead times on sourcing our products as a knock on effect.
As we approach the last quarter of 2021, our focus here at USB2U is on making sure our customers have everything they need for early 2022, especially with Chinese New Year holidays creeping up on us very quickly. We recommend you plan ahead as best as possible for not just Christmas giveaways, but also for any USB sticks or other tech gifts required in the new year as we suspect it may take some time to recover from this.
As usual, we are preparing our UK stock to fulfil express orders of USB sticks, power banks and tech gifts branded with company logos, but to secure the best price and have a choice in the widest selection of products we do recommend more than ever to be prepared early for 2022 campaigns.
Get in touch with our friendly team today to find out more and to see how we can help you prepare.