Gifts / Sports & Toys

Le Lang, the purchasing manager of a French toy importer, said that they are doing everything possible to get the pre-ordered Chinese toys to Europe as soon as possible.

French TV 2 reported on October 13, original title: Toy shortage caused Christmas anxiety. Picture books, knight swords or toy cars. For many French people, the race to buy the best Christmas toys has already begun. But will the supply of Christmas cabinets this year be sufficient, and will the prices of toys rise? To answer these questions, we must go to China to find answers.

China is the world's largest toy manufacturer and exporter. Thousands of toy cars and mini drones can be produced every day on the assembly line of a toy factory in China. A female worker at the factory said that she would conduct quality inspections on 200 toy cars every hour, and handle more than 2,000 toy cars every day. In the past, 90% of the factory's products were exported to Europe and the United States. However, this year a large number of products are piled up in warehouses, and it is likely that they will not be able to reach the European and American markets before Christmas. The factory director, Mr. Zhang, said that many toys that were supposed to be shipped in August are still waiting, and the delivery period has been extended by an average of 2 months. This has resulted in toys worth millions of euros and a total of 50 containers are still waiting to be shipped.

As the world economy recovers, shipping demand has surged, and "big traffic jams" have appeared in European and American ports far away from China. The price of shipping has risen, and the price of a container shipped from China to France has soared from 1,855 euros to 12,530 euros in a year, an increase of nearly 7 times! Therefore, 20% of the toys in the catalog of French toy dealers are currently trapped in Asia, which has caused panic among French buyers.

Le Lang, the purchasing manager of a French toy importer, said that they are doing everything possible to get the pre-ordered Chinese toys to Europe as soon as possible. Many local businesses are putting pressure on importers, hoping to be the target of priority supply. In a toy warehouse in France, toys that were supposed to be stored at the end of August are "long overdue." In this regard, the importer who has just received a set of fire truck toys said: "I can finally rest assured. The landing of each toy container is a victory in a battle, because ‘it’s better to be late than nothing’"! If it is said that late toys can finally meet the purchase needs of (European) consumers, then price increases have become an indisputable fact. According to the French toy industry, toys in this Christmas season are at least 3% more expensive than in 2020.