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News September 18, 2018

Typhoon Impacts Some Promo Product-Producing Factories in China

Stateside suppliers Counselor spoke with said their ability to fulfill orders and service clients has not been affected thus far.

By  Christopher Ruvo

Typhoon Mangkhut unleashed furious wind and rain on the Philippines and parts of South China, but some promotional products suppliers are feeling the storm’s reverberations here in the United States.

Stateside industry suppliers source product and partner with factories in China where the mega-storm made landfall. Some suppliers Counselor spoke with reported no disruptions to their China-based partners’ operations, but others said their overseas sources were contending with storm-related challenges.

Pop! Promos (asi/45657) said Mangkhut impacted several key suppliers it works with in China’s Guangdong Province. Severe damage, power outages and flooding were among the issues the Philadelphia-based firm’s partners in China were contending with. As of this writing, the disruption was not impeding Pop! Promos’ ability to serve distributors and to fulfill orders. “Fortunately Pop! Promos has redundant factories and shipping companies, generally in different geographic regions, so although the storm has impacted some suppliers and shipping hubs, our operations are unaffected at this time,” Sterling Wilson, Pop! Promos president and co-founder, told Counselor.

Wilson said Pop! has engaged in regular communication with affected factories. “So far, they are safe and sound,” Wilson told Counselor. “Our thoughts and prayers are with our partners in China. Please keep the millions who have been evacuated from their homes in your prayers – this is a scary time for them.”

Meanwhile, Top 40 supplier Polyconcept North America (PCNA), parent firm of brands like Leed’s (asi/66887) and Trimark (asi/92121), reported the typhoon has caused minor disruptions for the company’s China-based partners. “Factories are closed until Wednesday, but there has not been significant damage or extended closures,” David Nicholson, PCNA’s president, told Counselor. As of early this week, Nicholson said PCNA had experienced no material supply chain disruption.

So far, the story was similar for Top 40 supplier alphabroder (asi/34063). Andrea Lara Routzahn, vice president of portfolio and supplier management, said one ship containing hard goods was delayed in the port of Shenzhen in Guangdong Province, but there were no significant impacts to relate. Meanwhile, alphabroder’s China-sourced apparel ships from Northern China, so company leaders were monitoring the situation there to see if delays could spread north. As of this writing, they had not.

Named after the Thai word for the mangosteen fruit, Mangkhut was a super typhoon when it blasted the Philippines, killing at least 66 people, according to a Monday government estimate. The monster storm downgraded slightly to a severe typhoon when it tore into Hong Kong Saturday, becoming the territory’s strongest typhoon on record.

Mangkhut continued its violent assault on China’s Guangdong province before weakening into a tropical depression as it moved into the neighboring Guangxi Province on Monday. “The initial analysis showed that, throughout the lifecycle of Mangkhut, the maximum sustained winds near the center reached 250km/h [155mph],” an official told the South China Morning Post.