ESAN: Christmas campaign with high prices and low stock due to container crisis

A study of the ESAN University of Peru He warned that the panorama of prices and stock of products by Christmas season “is not very encouraging” for this end of the year 2021, due to the new variant detected, called omicron, and the so-called global container crisis.

According to previous reports, the Christmas campaign at Mesa Redonda, for example, generated up to $ 20 million a day prior to the pandemic. However, last year it barely reached $ 9 million.

In this regard, the professor of Administration and Finance at ESAN University, Edmundo Lizarzaburu, explained that this crisis is not related to the existence or not of the products, but to the “physical disposition of these when they are required. ”. That is, the containers are not where they should be. He considered three key factors:

1. Long transit times. The container crisis is due, among several factors, to sanitary measures in different destination countries, which delays the return of containers. The blockade of the Suez Canal and the temporary closures of some main ports in China. All this generates a chaotic traffic in maritime trade, for which the transit time of the Shanghai-Callao-Shanghai route has been increased from 60 to 90 days.
2. Importation costs. As is common in any good or service, the cost of imports is regulated according to supply and demand. Today, the limited availability of spaces for maritime transport shows a reduction in supply, which raises costs. This mainly affects MSEs, since, not finding spaces in maritime transport, they take the air option as an option, which has a higher price or, finally, they decide not to import. Finally, the increase in the costs incurred by the entrepreneur are transferred to the buyer, who must assume the increase of up to 60% of the final price.
3. Exchange rate. Comparing with October of last year, the exchange rate has increased. This is of great relevance, since the import cost is paid in dollars and when converting it to soles, a higher amount will be required.

ESAN: more expensive toys this Christmas

Another point highlighted by the specialist is that, in our country, several products require sanitary authorization from the Directorate General of Health (Digesa), which directly impacts costs.

“Taking into account the increases in logistics costs, it is estimated that the prices of toys would be increasing by 60% compared to previous years”, Lizarzaburu stated.

Finally, the teacher reaffirmed that in the 2021 Christmas campaign we will have higher prices and lower stock of various products compared to last year.

As for the case of international trade, “the most probable thing is that the shortage of spaces will continue”, for which the high costs in imports and long transit times will still be maintained during 2022.