Chinese New Year 2027: order deadlines for UK importers

Chinese New Year falls on Saturday 6 February 2027. If you buy stock from China, it will shape your first quarter, and the dates that matter come well before February.

The official holiday is only about a week. The real disruption lasts six to eight weeks, and your goods also have to cross an ocean by the long way round.

The dates

Planning guides put the official closure at roughly 5 to 12 February 2027. The exact days, including the weekend workdays China shifts around the holiday, are not final: the State Council had not published the 2027 schedule as of September 2026. It usually appears in the autumn before.

For an importer, that official week is the least of it. Factories start slowing two to four weeks early, from mid-January, as workers leave for the longest journey home of the year. Output then takes another two to four weeks to recover after the holiday. Plan for six to eight weeks of disruption.

The shipping half of the problem

Getting goods finished is only half the job. By September 2026, only 27% of Asia–Europe routing had returned to the Suez Canal, so most container ships still sail around the Cape of Good Hope. That puts sea freight from China to the UK at about 45 to 50 days, roughly two weeks longer than before the disruption.

Freight also gets tighter just before the holiday, because everyone is trying to ship at once. Ports run with fewer staff, and rates tend to rise.

Working backwards

Put those figures together and work back from the day you need stock on your shelves:

step	latest sensible date
samples approved, order placed	early November 2026
production finished and inspected	before factories slow in mid-January 2027
goods leave China	by mid-January 2027
goods arrive in the UK	early to mid March 2027

This is a planning estimate, not a promise. Every product and factory is different, and a first order with new samples needs more time than a repeat order. But it shows why early November is the real deadline for early-2027 stock, and why we’re already close to it.

Miss it, and the arithmetic turns against you. Factories are back to full speed only in March, production takes its usual time, and then the goods spend about seven weeks at sea. For anything made to order, stock ordered after the holiday is unlikely to land before May.

Quality on both sides of the holiday

Deadlines are the obvious problem. Quality is the less obvious one.

Before the holiday, factories rush to finish orders, and rushed production is when corners get cut. After it, many workers don’t come back, so the first weeks run with newer, less experienced staff who haven’t been trained on your product.

Two habits protect you on both sides of the holiday: an approved sample to compare against, and an inspection before you pay the balance.

A checklist for this year

1. Ask each supplier for their holiday dates in writing: the last production day and the first day back, not just “Chinese New Year”.
2. Approve samples now. Put the specifications and materials in the written order, so nothing can be swapped quietly in the rush.
3. Book a pre-shipment inspection before the wind-down, and pay the balance only when the goods pass.
4. Get freight quotes early. Space and prices tighten from December.
5. Inspect the first production run after the holiday, when new staff are on the line.
6. Hold enough stock to cover March. If a shipment slips by two weeks, you should still be able to sell.

If you’re importing for the first time, or this timeline already looks tight, I help UK businesses plan exactly this: suppliers, orders, inspections and the UK import side. See China sourcing and UK import support.