Shenzhen’s cross-border merchants throw their arms up in despair as Ukraine crisis, Covid-19 lockdown create perfect storm
- Anxiety is mounting across the vibrant cross-border merchant community in Shenzhen, a major base for cross-border trade in southern China
- Cross-border trade in Shenzhen has ground to a halt after local government imposed a citywide, seven-day lockdown to deal with Covid-19 outbreak
For Candice Zhang, a small cross-border merchant based in the southern Chinese tech hub of Shenzhen, the past three weeks have been particularly tough for her business.
“The lockdown is a major challenge for us because we can’t ship our products,” said Zhang, whose store mainly sells daily use products. “Buyers will cancel their orders if we keep postponing shipments because the products we sell can be found elsewhere.”
“Not being able to ship means we don’t have any revenue coming in, and how can a small company like us survive without any income,” added Zhang.
Anxiety is mounting across the vibrant cross-border merchant community in Shenzhen, a major base for cross-border trade in southern China where an estimated 40,000 merchants sell products, mainly electronics and daily use goods, to overseas consumers via different e-commerce platforms.