UPDATE FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 9 a.m. (EDT)
At a June 26 briefing, officials said that some lockdown restrictions in Beijing had been lifted in areas where extensive testing showed no cases of the coronavirus. Since the new outbreak was identified on June 11, authorities in Beijing have reportedly undertaken more than 3 million tests in the city of 20 million people. As of this writing, 280 new cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in this particular flare up. Eleven new cases were identified in Beijing on June 26.

Promotional products suppliers say that a renewed outbreak of COVID-19 in Beijing, China’s capital, is not impacting their supply chains currently, but there’s potential for issues down the line if the contagion spreads and widespread societal lockdown measures are again implemented.

The majority of promotional products sold in the North American ad specialty market are produced in China. When the COVID-19 pandemic flared in China this winter, stay-at-home orders aimed at controlling the spread of the virus compelled Chinese factories to temporarily close, interrupting promo production chains.

Home to more than 20 million people, Beijing reported its first case in what’s been described as a new flare in infections on June 11. Through early June 22, nearly 240 people in Beijing have been newly diagnosed with COVID-19 – the outbreak having been linked to a wholesale food center in the city.

Some promo professionals in North America watched news of the outbreak nervously, wondering, among other things, if it would usher in supply chain disruption again.

So far, that hasn’t been the case, according to certain supplier executives.

As of this June 22 writing, the new viral cluster is limited to Beijing and authorities there are predicting that control measures being put in place will lead to a large-scale reduction in new confirmed cases by the end of the week of June 21.

Also, while Chinese authorities have mandated some strict lockdown rules in Beijing, those have been limited and mainly targeted at certain areas of the city identified as high risk. As The New York Times reported, much business and social activity continues in China’s capital.

Latest # released Saturday afternoon: Beijing has now tested 2.3 million people for the coronavirus in just eight days. https://t.co/2Itt3YFqE4

— Keith Bradsher (@KeithBradsher) June 20, 2020

“We don’t have any factories in the Beijing area, and are not being affected by this current situation,” said Rob Spector, president of Quebec-headquartered Top 40 supplier Spector & Co. (asi/88660).

“We are not seeing any issues nor hearing any concerns from our factories in China at this time,” said David Nicholson, president of New Kensington, PA-based Top 40 supplier Polyconcept North America (PCNA; asi/78897). “We do not have any manufacturing in Beijing or surrounding areas, so unless this becomes more widespread, we don’t anticipate any impact on our supply.”

Still, promo executives are keeping a watchful eye on how things play out.

Teresa Fang, who leads the international sourcing team for Prime Line (as/79530), the hard goods division of Trevose, PA-headquartered Top 40 supplier alphabroder (asi/34063), said that the Beijing wave of confirmed cases “could potentially disrupt our supply chain if the Chinese government needs resources to be held for their use, such as personal protective equipment items like hand sanitizers, wipes and masks.”

Nonetheless, Fang rated the likelihood of that happening relatively low given how circumstances appear to being playing out. “Beijing has taken swift action to address this issue so I would be surprised if it escalated” to the point of the government preventing PPE exports to keep such items in China, she said.

Cheron Coleman, who spearheads international sourcing for alphabroder, said that if the outbreak in Beijing spreads and begins to affect other areas of China then supply chain issues could arise.

“If that happens, there will likely be an impact in fabric and trim manufacturing, logistics and the financial sector,” Coleman said. “Still, as long as the outbreak is contained to Beijing, there is no concern related to manufacturing disruptions in our supply chain. Hopefully, they will get things under control before other areas in China are impacted.”