CHINA CALENDAR — PRODUCTION, FAIRS AND FREIGHT
The calendar that shapes your shipment.
The shutdowns that affect lead times and prices between China and Brazil, each with its window, the year it applies to and the source it was checked against.
Last reviewed
Every date on this page comes from the source named in each block. Confirm with your supplier and the shipping line before you book: each supplier sets its own shutdown.
Chinese New Year
Supplier shutdowns last far longer than the holiday.
The published holiday lasts a few days. The actual shutdown does not: many workers travel back to their home provinces, output drops in the weeks before, and it takes weeks to get back to full capacity because staff return gradually.
The risk isn't just the shutdown itself. It lies in the batches rushed out right before it and the first batches after the restart — the ones most often flagged in inspections.
If you need goods in the first quarter, place the order and pay the deposit before the window below. If you can't, plan enough inventory to get through it.
January – March 2027
Chinese New Year supplier shutdown
Estimated window based on experience: production halted, inspections suspended, slow restart.
Chinese New Year
The published holiday. By the time it starts, production has already stopped — and it only resumes afterwards.
January – February 2028
Chinese New Year supplier shutdown
Estimated window based on experience: production halted, inspections suspended, slow restart.
Chinese New Year
The published holiday. By the time it starts, production has already stopped — and it only resumes afterwards.
- Not yet published
Official Spring Festival holiday schedule
2027
Published once a year by the State Council. No date is shown here until it is released.
The date changes every year because it follows the lunar calendar. The shutdown window is an estimate based on experience, not an official date.
Golden Week
A week-long national holiday at the start of October.
Golden Week bundles China's National Day holiday into the first week of October. Suppliers, customs brokers and carriers shut down or scale back, and the backlog shows up in the following weeks.
The official holiday notice usually turns a Saturday or Sunday into a workday to make up for the time off. Those days are listed below because they affect your schedule with the supplier.
October 2026
Golden Week — National Day
Suppliers, brokers and carriers stop or scale down. The backlog shows up afterwards.
Make-up workday
A weekend day turned into a workday by the official holiday notice.
- Not yet published
Official National Day holiday schedule
2027
Published once a year by the State Council. No date is shown here until it is released.
Last reviewed
Sourcebeijing.gov.cn
Canton Fair
Three phases, each with a different group of products.
The Canton Fair, in Guangzhou, is held twice a year in three phases of a few days each, separated by setup breaks. Each phase covers different sectors: check with the organizer which phase your product is shown in before you book your flight.
During fair weeks, flights and hotels are scarce and suppliers' sales teams are at their booths, not at their desks. It is the best window to meet them and the worst to push for urgent production.
October – November 2026
Canton Fair — first phase
Check with the organizer whether your sector exhibits in this phase.
Canton Fair — second phase
Other sectors. Flights and hotels in Guangzhou are scarce.
Canton Fair — third phase
Production continues, but the sales team is at the fair.
- Not yet published
Spring Canton Fair
2027
Dates not yet announced by the organizer.
Last reviewed
Hong Kong holidays
Hong Kong has a calendar of its own.
Hong Kong's general holidays coincide with mainland China's on some dates and differ on others. They affect banks, customs brokers and paperwork — not the production line on the mainland.
Payments, document issuance and bank releases stop on a Hong Kong holiday, even when the supplier is working. When a holiday falls on a Sunday, a substitute day is designated instead — and that is the day things stop.
Year 2026
- National Day
- The day after Chung Yeung Festival
- Christmas Day
- The first weekday after Christmas Day
Year 2027
- The first day of January
- Lunar New Year — first day
- Lunar New Year — third day
- Lunar New Year — fourth day
- Good Friday
- The day after Good Friday
- Easter Monday
- Ching Ming Festival
- Labour Day
- The Birthday of the Buddha
- Tuen Ng — Dragon Boat Festival
- Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day
- The day after the Mid-Autumn Festival
- National Day
- Chung Yeung Festival
- Christmas Day
- The first weekday after Christmas Day
Last reviewed
Freight peaks
The peaks are predictable, and so is the price.
Demand for vessel space rises in the weeks before each shutdown, as everyone rushes to ship before suppliers close.
In those windows, space gets tight, freight rates climb and the risk of rolled cargo — containers bumped to the next vessel — goes up. Booking early is worth more than negotiating at the last minute.
December 2026 – February 2027
Freight peak
Tight space, rising rates and the risk of cargo being rolled to the next vessel.
Last reviewed
Sourceunicargo.com
Transit times
Production and transit take longer than they seem.
The lead time of an import is the sum of stages that are rarely counted together: sample and approval, production, inspection, consolidation, transit, arrival, customs clearance and inland transport.
Below are transit times only, port to port and airport to airport. Production times vary by product and supplier, so they belong in your shipment's own schedule, not on this page.
- 28 to 42 daysOcean transit China → BrazilEstimatePort to port. Varies with the origin port, the carrier and the port calls.
- 5 to 12 daysAir transit China → BrazilEstimateAirport to airport, depending on routing and connections.
Ranges estimated from published schedules, excluding customs clearance and inland transport. Your shipment's lead time depends on the product, transport mode, port and carrier.
Last reviewed
Sourceshipafreight.com
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