Pre-CNY Order Calendar: Why December Buyers Skip the February Chaos
Chinese New Year shuts factories for 3-4 weeks, usually from mid-January into late February, and every buyer who orders after early December gets pushed into the same backlog. If you place orders in December, you get factory production time, January loading, and clean arrival before the holiday freeze. If you wait until February, you compete for whatever capacity survives the shutdown, and that means 2-6 week delays and spot freight rates that can jump well past normal Lagos levels of $3,000-4,000 a container.
Why this concern is real
CNY is not a two-day holiday. Workers travel home for weeks, and many don't return to the same factory line on the same schedule. Across our network of 184 factories, production slows in the first week of January as workers finish existing orders, then stops almost completely for the shutdown window. Buyers who don't plan around this lose their production slot entirely, not just a few days. The factories that reopen first in late February are already booked by buyers who ordered in November and December. Anyone who placed an order in January is now behind that queue, and container space on top of that gets scarce because everyone is trying to ship at once.
How it actually works
Work backward from CNY, not forward from today. If CNY shutdown starts around January 20, factories need finished stock loaded and gone by January 10-15 to avoid getting caught mid-shutdown. That means production has to start in December, which means your order and deposit need to land in early-to-mid December. Miss that window and your build slot moves to late February or March, right into the post-holiday rush when every buyer who delayed is now trying to book the same container space. Spot freight to Lagos, Mombasa, and other routes spikes during this period because demand for space outstrips what shipping lines allocate post-holiday. A container that costs $3,000 in November can cost noticeably more in late February simply because everyone needs the same ships in the same three-week window.
How we handle it at Apex Home Export
We run our December order calendar the same way every year. Orders placed by the first week of December go into production immediately across our 184-factory network, with each unit run through our 27-point bench test and serial-logged before it leaves the floor. Grade A units carry a 90-day window and are under 3 years old; Grade B is under 5 years with a 30-day window; Grade C is tested as-is and priced accordingly. You pay a 30% deposit to start production, and the remaining 70% only after we send load video and you have the BL copy in hand. Corporate accounts match the contract entity, so the paperwork on your end lines up with what customs expects in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Iraq, Egypt, or the Philippines. Twin tub units in this window run $30-45 new and $48-68 for used Grade B stock. We don't move used cooling units or used TVs under any grade. SGS and Bureau Veritas inspections are welcome before any balance payment goes out.
What you should do before you pay
- Confirm your factory's actual shutdown dates, not a general CNY estimate — they vary by 1-2 weeks factory to factory.
- Lock your order and 30% deposit before December 10 if you want January loading.
- Ask for the 27-point bench test log and serial numbers before balance payment, not after.
- Match your corporate account name to the contract entity so BL and customs paperwork don't stall at port.
- Book freight early — Lagos rates at $3,000-4,000 hold better in November-December than in the February scramble.
The math is simple: order in December, load in January, skip the February backlog entirely. If you're still deciding, message us on WhatsApp now at https://wa.me/8619905922526 and we'll check which of our 184 factories still has a slot before the shutdown hits.