UK retailers sourcing from China and across Asia are being urged to bring forward their spring stock planning, after Lunar New Year 2027 lands just eight days before Valentine’s Day, pulling the factory shutdown, Valentine’s Day and Mothering Sunday into the same tight stretch of the retail calendar.
For UK retailers, the run from February to Easter brings some of the year’s biggest gifting occasions and the arrival of new-season ranges. In 2027, it also sits directly on top of the longest pause in the Asian manufacturing calendar.
Lunar New Year falls on Saturday 6 February 2027, according to the Hong Kong Observatory’s Gregorian-Lunar calendar, 11 days earlier than the 17 February date in 2026. That puts the start of the holiday just eight days before Valentine’s Day on 14 February, with Mothering Sunday following on 7 March and Easter on 28 March.
The impact on supply chains stretches well beyond the holiday itself. Many factories begin reducing capacity and closing production lines several weeks beforehand, and SEKO Logistics’ Lunar New Year supply-chain planning guide notes that capacity can take several weeks to return to normal afterwards, as workers travel home for the holiday and some do not return to their previous employers. In 2027, that recovery period overlaps with the run-up to Mothering Sunday and the spring trading season.
Planning from last year’s dates leaves retailers short
“Most businesses plan Lunar New Year from memory of the previous year. In 2027, that can leave them with almost two weeks less planning runway than they expect,” said Paul Lockwood, Managing Director, SEKO Logistics UK & Ireland.
“Eleven days may not sound significant, but when those days come directly out of the production calendar, they can be the difference between an order being completed and shipped before the holiday or being pushed into an increasingly congested pre-holiday window.
“For businesses sourcing from China and Vietnam, the planning window for 2027 is already open.”
The stakes are significant. China is the UK’s third-largest import partner, with total UK imports from China worth £74.9 billion in the four quarters to the end of Q1 2026, £71.0 billion of which were goods, according to the UK Government’s China trade and investment factsheet.
For retailers, the chain of consequences is short. A delayed production run means a later vessel departure, and a later departure can push stock past the date it was due in store. For gifting lines tied to a fixed date, stock that lands after the occasion has passed is far harder to sell at full price, and the alternative is often expensive last-minute freight.
Where the countdown stands
With the holiday now less than four months away, some of the early milestones have already passed. SEKO’s planning timetable for businesses importing from Asia sets out what needs to happen, and when:
| Supply-Chain Milestone | Recommended Planning Window | Key Focus & Operational Impact |
| Complex / Custom Orders | August–September 2026 | Specifications should already be finalised; any still open are now up against factory capacity cutoffs. |
| Standard Orders | September–October 2026 | Issue POs now, before suppliers freeze Q4 production schedules. |
| Planning Discussions | Early November 2026 | The three-month mark: review forecasts, align production schedules and confirm supplier closure and reopening dates. |
| Production Completion | Late Nov–Early Dec 2026 | Complete manufacturing before pre-holiday worker migration begins. |
| Freight Bookings Secured | Dec 2026–Jan 2027 | Lock in ocean and air capacity at least three weeks ahead of shipment readiness, before peak surcharges hit. |
| Pre-Holiday Departure | January 2027 | Ensure cargo moves out of port before regional transport slows. |
| Lunar New Year | 6 February 2027 | Factory closures and holiday slowdown officially begin. |
| Valentine’s Day | 14 February 2027 | Gifting stock needs to have shipped before factories closed. |
| Post-Holiday Recovery | February–March 2027 | Reduced staffing can constrain output into March, across Mothering Sunday (7 March) and Easter (28 March). |
The exact timing will vary by supplier, product and origin, but retailers should not assume that factories will keep accepting orders right up to the holiday, or that production will return to normal as soon as it ends.
How SEKO advises clients to plan
Dan Eckett, Client Solutions Group Director, SEKO Logistics UK & Ireland, said early engagement and realistic booking timeframes are the most common gap between businesses that navigate the holiday smoothly and those that do not:
“We advise clients to engage with suppliers well in advance of Chinese New Year and secure bookings at least three weeks ahead of shipment readiness to protect carrier capacity. It’s important to build contingency into planning, maintain visibility of production timelines and understand exactly when individual suppliers intend to close and reopen operations.
“Ideally, planning discussions should start three months before Chinese New Year. This provides sufficient time to review forecasts, align production schedules with suppliers and ensure inventory and transport plans are in place before the market begins to experience capacity constraints.”
For a 6 February holiday, that three-month point falls in early November. Ocean freight is typically the first area to feel the pressure.
“Ocean freight is heavily impacted in the weeks leading up to Chinese New Year, as exporters accelerate shipments ahead of factory closures. This creates pressure on vessel space, equipment availability and carrier schedules, so we typically recommend building an additional one to two weeks into transit plans and ensuring supplier bookings are confirmed well before that three-week threshold, not after it.”
For retailers, stock forecasting also needs to extend beyond the shutdown and into the recovery period that follows.
“For UK importers, stock forecasting should account for both the shutdown period and the recovery phase. While factories may reopen shortly after the holiday, many operate with reduced staffing levels into March, which can affect production output and lead times. We encourage clients to hold appropriate inventory buffers to maintain product availability and avoid disruption to customer demand.”
For retailers with Valentine’s, Mothering Sunday or spring lines sourced from Asia, the planning deadline arrives long before the holiday does.
In 2027, the holiday lands 11 days earlier than it did in 2026, and those 11 days come straight out of the spring stock calendar.
