Toy manufacturers are thinking of relying on China as the food crisis worsens

The beautiful piñatas that often hang from the roof of Jennie Hogg’s Cachao Toys store in Muswell Hill in London have been unlikely to come this Christmas.

“My vendors say they are too expensive to bring,” Hogg said. Although the breakdown in metabolism and the high cost of transportation have made piñatas less accessible, “customers still get what they want, they just need to have an open mind,” he added.

Globalization has prompted retailers from grocery stores to toy stores to warn of shortages and rising prices. China’s recent slowdown in manufacturing has added to the pressure, prompting some on the $ 95bn global market to reconsider their dependence on the country.

Lego, the world’s largest toy manufacturer, said their widespread production has helped keep them afloat and make history. first benefit this year. The company struggled with the growing demand for closure and plague relief due to its production facilities in Europe and Mexico. This week, the Danish group announced a $ 1bn investmentt in Vietnam to supply local products to neighboring Asian markets.

China makes about 80 percent of the world’s toys but Alain Joly, founder of Doudou et Compagnie, a bear trader in France, said the effects of the plague provided “financial reasons” to increase their production.

80%

Part of the international toys coming from China

Most of Doudou et Compagnie’s products are manufactured in Chinese factories. But in 2019 the company acquired the Maïlou Tradition, which produces the highest quality toys in Brittany.

“We had planned for 10 percent of our production to be in France. Now, what we want is 20 to 25 percent,” Joly said. It hopes to achieve this by mid-2023.

French-made Doudou et Compagnie products are no more than 40 percent more expensive than high-quality toys from China and Joly believes the demand for home-made teddy bears will be enormous.

“French-made” toys are growing, from 8 percent in the French market in 2014 to 15 percent today, according to Alain Ingberg, chief executive of the French Association of Toy Creators and Manufacturers. “I’m not saying everything will come back, but we’ll get 20 percent [in five years], ”He said.

Frédérique Tutt, an international sports expert at NPD Group, a market research firm, said the “issue of sustainability and the need to redesign the sector” is taking root elsewhere due to shipping difficulties.

Transportation costs have skyrocketed. The cost of shipping a 40-foot container from China to the UK rose to $ 15,000 in October, almost seven times more than last year, according to data provider Xeneta.

Prices are low but the deterioration of ports, shipwrecks and shipping shortages continue, according to Peter Sand, a senior Xeneta expert. “When it comes to shipping, the arrival of Omicron is another problem,” he said.

The Choice of Behavior, whose breeds include Peppa Pig and Fireman Sam, has its own toys made in a small factory in China. Jerry Healy, the group’s marketing director, said the company took “bull and horn”, and ordered 95 percent of its total demand by the end of March, two or three months earlier than usual.

But a long delivery time means that it has failed to change unexpectedly strong athletes like Moon Shoes – a pair of tight shoes called “trampolines for your foot”.

“This has happened to five or six rows of toys, when we were very few,” Healy said. “We predicted an amount that was not enough.”

The missed opportunities are equivalent to “several million pounds” of lost money, he added. “We had the opportunity to have a great year and we had a great year. It would have been great.”

In the ports of Los Angeles, where about 40 percent of Chinese goods shipped to the US arrive, about 75 ships wait to dock, according to the Kuehne + Nagel group, which lasted for several weeks.

Ynon Kreiz, chief of Barbie-maker Mattel, was one of the business leaders who went to the White House last month to discuss the matter. In recent years, Mattel has closed factories in Asia, Canada and Mexico but still has its own factories in China, and its growth has helped overcome some of the challenges.

Small-scale fighters, such as the Hornby railroad manufacturer, who launched in China in 1995, have no such authority. After the financial crisis hit, the company has completely changed a number of Chinese retailers in recent years. But, with demand for 35 per cent of its Scalextric sets compared to last year, it is missing from other UK retailers.

However, Lyndon Davies, chief executive officer, said the company has no plans to retrench due to rising labor costs and a lack of skills.

Character Options’ Healy said “if the design problem persists, many companies will look into it”, although he acknowledged “there is no immediate solution”. Cheap toys that cost less than $ 20, high prices for local products are low, he said.

But production in China is not as cheap as it used to be. Rising shipping, energy and production costs mean that prices are going up significantly. Tutt predicts a 12 percent increase next year, especially for big toys that few can get into jars.

“Traders don’t have that much right,” he said. “They may have offered some or all of these to consumers.”

Additional reports by Harry Dempsey