China: Golden Week closes factories and ports from 1 to 7 October, delays continue
China's national holiday closed most factories, ports and customs offices from 1 to 7 October 2026, with working days moved to 20 September and 10 October to compensate. The official return is from 8 October, but a normal logistics pace takes a further two to four weeks to resume.
Published · Updated
Golden Week 2026 partly overlapped with the Mid-Autumn Festival, celebrated from 25 to 27 September, which extended the slowdown: many factories and freight forwarders scaled back activity from the last week of September, ahead of the official closure from 1 to 7 October.
Ports and customs offices reopen from 8 or 9 October, but recovery is not instant across the whole chain: road carriers, warehouses and production lines also need to restart, and most factories do not return to a normal pace until between 10 and 15 October.
Logistics professionals expect congestion to clear gradually between 15 and 22 October, with transport delays estimated to lengthen by two to four weeks overall on orders placed just before or during the closure.
This window coincides with the opening of the autumn Canton Fair on 15 October, which further concentrates demand for transport and factory labour just as China's supply chain is restarting.
What it changes for an importer
For an importer, an order confirmed just before or during Golden Week arrives, in practice, two to four weeks later than planned, which weighs directly on a restocking schedule ahead of the year-end holidays. Sorva anticipates this slowdown with its partner factories, confirms available stock before the closure, and replans shipments with its Chinese-speaking team in Guangzhou as soon as work resumes.
Importing from China?
Tell us what you want to buy. Our team answers on WhatsApp with the factories, the lead times and the documents your country asks for.
What is changing right now
- Chine · Canton Fair
Canton Fair: the 140th autumn edition runs from 15 October to 4 November 2026
The 140th session of the Canton Fair takes place at Pazhou, Guangzhou, in three five-day phases separated by three-day breaks: electronics and machinery from 15 to 19 October, home and building from 23 to 27, and fashion and consumer goods from 31 October to 4 November 2026. It is the largest event for buying directly from Chinese factories.
Read the article - Chine · États-Unis · Droits de douane
China, United States: tariff truce extended until 10 January 2027
On 24 September 2026, during a state visit by Xi Jinping to Washington, the first by a Chinese leader to the United States in eleven years, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping extended until 10 January 2027 the trade truce agreed in Busan at the end of October 2025: US tariffs remain lowered and China is delaying its new rare earth export restrictions.
Read the article - Chine · Fiscalité export
China: export VAT rebate scrapped for 271 product categories
Since 1 April 2026, China has removed the export VAT rebate for 249 product categories and cut the battery rebate from 9% to 6%. The measure hits PVC, glass, ceramics, photovoltaic cells and e-cigarettes in particular, and mechanically raises the ex-factory price for any buyer, in Asia-Pacific as elsewhere.
Read the article