Noida: While Holi is just around the corner, the traders of the region fear that there will be no takers for their already brought Chinese products which remain in high demand during this festival.
Talking to CitySpidey, Sushil Kumar Jain, Chairman, CAIT Delhi-NCR said, “The panic, which has happened because of coronavirus, will lead to another slowdown in Indian business if people avoid coming out to markets as major Holi events and celebrations have already been cancelled. The worst affected are those in hospitality businesses.”
As per the traders association, the fear of coronavirus is such that the smaller traders of the country and are not taking the already imported goods which are lying in the warehouses of the metro cities. They estimate the cost of these goods to be more than Rs 500 crore while an additional Rs 3,000 crore lie in the supply chain across the country.
Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary General of Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said that the impact of coronavirus is quite visible on other products also which have been imported from China. Taking a safe passage, the consumers are totally staying away from Chinese goods having a fear that the goods might be infected from coronavirus.
Even the retail traders are least interested in procuring Chinese goods due to a shift in consumer behavior. Though not necessarily the goods are virus affected but the market at large is keeping a distance with Chinese goods.
The importers keep a buffer stock with them for 45 days to 60 days and in proportion to procure Chinese goods shipments at regular intervals. The coronavirus broke in late December 2019 and came into limelight in 1st week of January when China locked down its industries and about 18 cities were completely closed bringing a complete lockdown in the production of goods.
India is a prime importer of Chinese goods which plays a significant role in maintaining the supply chain in India. So far the buffer stock of 45-60 days has kept the supply chain interrupted. However, such buffer stock is now going to be finished and thereafter the supply chain my get affected.
The indifferent attitude of both retailers and consumers towards Chinese goods is because of the reason that COVID-19 has refrained them to buy even the goods which were imported from China even before COVID-19 broke.
