Pressure on China’s factories grows as U.S. demand falls
Employees work on an electronics production line on Feb. 2, 2023, at a factory in Longyan, Fujian province in China. China News Service | China News Service | Getty Images BEIJING — For some factories in China, it's not full steam ahead after the end of zero-Covid. All the factories that U.S. toy maker Basic Fun works with in China — about 20 of them — told workers not to return immediately after the Lunar New Year holiday, said CEO Jay Foreman. That's because of a flood of inventory in the first half of last year, which didn't get sold as consumer prices in the U.S. surged over the summer and into the fall, he said. Basic Fun's products include Care Bears and Tonka Trucks. The official Lunar New Year holiday in China ended Jan. 27, but the travel period runs until Feb. 15. The festival is typically the only time each year that migrant workers — more than 170 million people in China — can visit their hometowns. "Every factory I spoke to said they're going...