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5 May 2008

Beijing 2008 Olympics effects exports & factory output in China.

Posted by Roger under: China News & Events .

This is an email which we mailed out to many customers, but I think its important enough to be posted here as well. If you import product from China, work in China or have any plans to travel to China between now and October, then pay close attention because this effects you!

As a result of the upcoming games in Beijing, we expect any and all business will be severely disrupted, increasing the closer it gets to the Olympic games. This will most likely effect large portions of the country including non-Olympic cities like Shanghai & Guangzhou. As you may already know air pollution is a major concern in China (particularly in Beijing during the games) and there is a high likelihood of the Chinese government will address this by shutting down large swaths of business during this time from North to South as much as the air pollution in major cities comes from the surrounding provinces. The Chinese government also believes that during the games, people will visit other cities which means their air quality will also be a concern and therefore factories in seeming unrelated places like Ningbo may suddenly close down. The recent political tensions with Tebet have also added complications with security tightening and for those planning on traveling to China, getting visa’s may be a problem. Business will probably not resume normally well into late September. With this in mind, we are making the following recommendations to all customers:

A) If you are planning any orders between now and October we strong recommend you talk with us about them now. The next window for China orders will probably not reopen until October. Get started now.

B) It can be a buyer market. If you are a consolidation customer (and not buying from ACF’s own factory), then take advantage of this in order to bring your own customers some great bargains. Many smaller vendors have been caught up in the recent revaluation of the Chinese Yuan in addition to Olympic pressure (some sites are being demolished along with the nearby vendor’s warehouse). Several of our vendors are having going out of business sales. This means really good product at cheap prices.

We also remind customers to please keep in mind that China still is a communist country and the games are about Chinese National Pride and the “coming out” of the communist party. Business interested do not factor into the picture and business will take a back-seat even at great expense to the economy - please factor this into your business planning.

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