China's COVID Outbreak Causes Vaping Product Shortages in Australia

On February 23, news from Vapingpost reported that due to the unexpected outbreak of the novel coronavirus in China, which led to quarantine measures, most businesses were unable to resume operations, resulting in a rapid decrease in the inventory of vaping products (such as replaceable coils and pods) in Australia.

With 90% of vaping hardware produced in China, Australia's inventory is dwindling, causing concern among retailers and distributors. Some have completely run out of vaping products, while others worry that their stock will only last a few weeks. Chris Monchgesang, COO of major distributor Vape Traders, stated: "We feel that the increasingly popular devices are being squeezed. This is not the most pleasant time."

Since the Chinese New Year, which lasts for 15 days, local governments have begun to lock down villages and impose a 14-day quarantine on all travelers. This means that many of the 300 million migrant workers in China are unable to return to work.

The vaping shortage is just one example of the economic chaos referred to as the "second wave" following the coronavirus outbreak, which is disrupting global trade. The first wave primarily affected the tourism and aviation industries.

Monchgesang pointed out that the next most viable step for the Australian industry would be to start importing from the US and UK. "It entirely depends on whether the coronavirus begins to dissipate or continues to flare up. Importing from the US and UK markets, which have large hardware inventories, is a last resort. However, the US production of vaping devices is slow, and at some point, the inventory will run out."

He added that most e-liquids are produced in the US, so supply should not be affected. However, vaping coils and pods are quickly running out. To this end, a US wholesale vaping supplier has informed customers that they expect a "severe shortage of coils and hardware nationwide" between late February and early April.

Meanwhile, due to stricter vaping regulations implemented in 2019, China's vaping industry was already struggling before the outbreak, having laid off about 50,000 employees, approximately 10% of its workforce.

The Vaping Industry Association and its secretary, Ao Weinuo, revealed that the combination of media scrutiny in the US and China's online vaping sales ban has led to a decline in demand for the product.

The president and founder of vaping company Sigilei, Ou Junbiao, stated that his company had to halve its workforce.

Similarly, an article on OAN explained that in factories in Shenzhen, southern China (currently closed for quarantine), about 90% of the world's vaping products are produced by approximately 500,000 employees, who had already been forced to slow down production and let many employees go before the outbreak.