Imports info, F,Y,I

[Tiger Hobbies]

Below is part of an email sent to our TRADE customers. This is so you, the end customer are aware of the impact Covid is having on the industry.

Dear Customers

An update on the International Shipping

https://www.politico.eu/article/shippin ... ht-prices/;

FAR EAST SHIPPING

The problem is very basic, the UK Hobby Industry is small fish compared to other industries, the largest UK company in our sector does maybe 50 Million turnover compared to other sectors running into Hundreds of Millions if not into the Billions.

As a result, the big boys are taking all the containers and willing to pay well over the odds to get them, i.e if you fill a container full of Laptops it could be a couple of millions worth of stock so who cares if have to pay £20,000 a 40 foot container or £10,000 a 20 footer.

The max we can put in a container is diecast say HM may be XXXXXX as they are smaller and more expensive than bulk plastic kits so we can maybe put only XXXXXX of kits in a container.

We have just had an email from one of the largest UK Hobby importers and they are struggling with a huge amount of models stuck at overseas ports or factories with no chance of a container for up to 12 weeks, so it is serious.

Some other large importers have their heads in the sand hoping it will all go away, this is starting to become obvious as there is less and less stock to purchase.

We have the following on their way or about to leave

NuNu (car kits) X 2 LOADS

Zoukie Mura x 2 loads

Hobby Master diecasts x 2 plus Star Ace Figures

Building up a load are Very Fire, Rye Field Century Wings, Modelcollect Great Wall, and Gecko yet to be confirmed leaving to be consolidated in one container.

We have a good shipping agent who will kick and shout to get a container.

Tiger Hobbies will soak up the excess shipping on anything coming and we will issue a list of what coming in a week or so, and take it on the nose with no price increase.

After the above products arrive things may have to change if the problems go on and if you read the above it could be another 6 months.

We will possibly suspend all import of kits for approx. 2 to 3 months after the large multi-load arrives, if the problem is still bad we will increase the price by 15 to 20% on kits.

Hobby Master due to its expense and size-dense nature will not see a price rise and goods will continue to arrive ( depending on container availability and time on the high seas

(HM will arrive bi-monthly rather than monthly as we stick two loads on one container by doing this there will be no price increase as we max out the container.

EURO KITS PROBLEMS

There are continuing problems for brands coming from Europe, this time its not shipping prices or duty but the couriers themselves such as UPS, DPD, and others

For example, we have 3 boxes of Hobby 2000 sent UPS from Poland on the 21st of Jan, we paid Vat and charges on the 23 Feb and still the load is not complete with only part delivered.

We have test imports of ARMA and Valom about to leave but will not be put on our order list until we sort out the supply chain.
Hope you have found this informative.

Best regards.

Tiger Hobbies.

[DavidWomby]

Thanks for the update. It sounds like things will not get better for quite a while! Good luck.

David

[iggie]

Not the easiest of conditions for trading at the moment, for all sorts of reasons! One of our old contacts, who used to trade in commodities was saying that he had lost count of the times he had been offered options on bulk purchases of containers; nothing inside them, just empty containers but hundreds at a time. It seems that they are becoming valuable bits of kit at present...
It occurs to me that kit prices may well rise in the next few months, as the increased shipping costs, additional tariffs on EU materials and scarcity value create a perfect storm

[JohnRatzenberger]

Thank you, always interesting to learn more about our hobby than the correct paint color.

I wonder what it was like 70 years ago when containers barely existed. Can you picture a load of kits hanging in a cargo net?