If you make sure to sit on 6 months of inventory for every one of your major products, you will run much lower risks of being unable to supply your customers with what they need. You might even be able to cut a current manufacturer off and ramp up a new one, without any impact on your customers. There will be downsides, though. Working capital is expensive. Warehousing and transporting all these goods are not cheap. You may have to write off damaged, lost, of rapidly obsolete materials. (It … [Read more...]
COVID-19: What Are The 7 Major Risks for Importers of China Goods?
As an importer, you are probably wondering how the COVID-19 epidemic in China is going to impact your business. Beijing says things are rapidly improving and hints that the situation will nearly be back to normal on the coasts by the end of February. They are still planning to hold the Canton fair. Let's all hope they are right. Let's hope there is no relapse (the epidemic starting again in certain cities) in the coming months. The situation is still far from clear. In the meantime, … [Read more...]
Wuhan Epidemic: Why Major Supply Chain Disruptions Are Coming Up
In my last article on the topic of the epidemic that started in Wuhan, I mentioned there would be real effects on logistics and manufacturing. Today I can affirm some of these effects can already be observed. And it is definitely going to impact some importers' sourcing strategy. … [Read more...]