How Is Coronavirus Affecting The Vape Industry?

How Is Coronavirus Affecting The Vape Industry?

28th Apr 2020

The outbreak of coronavirus in China has infected thousands, killed hundreds, and triggered travel bans. The industry is naturally going to suffer as a result, and some, such as vape companies, may be affected more than others. Coronavirus is creating a major global problem in the vape industry as the majority of the manufacturers are not able to produce and deliver vaping hardware. COVID-19 is impacting the vaping industry because most of the vape hardware production takes place in China.

Worldwide there are currently more than a million reported cases of coronavirus, and the number is growing. It is a dreadful time to be living through this pandemic time. It remains to affect people and economies around every corner of the world. The shortage of vape products in the US is due to manufacturers' inability to produce and deliver vaping products. Browse on to know more about how the spread of the coronavirus has resulted in a depleted vape supply. Keeping all this in consideration, here are some of the ways how the coronavirus crisis is affecting the vaping industry, and things that consumers and businesses should keep in mind as we navigate this health crisis together.

China and the Vaping Industry

Shenzhen is a modern metropolis city that links Hong Kong to China’s mainland, and is known as the vaping capital of the world. Around 85.7 percent of the world's vaping devices are made here, according to the CECC, i.e., China Electronics Chamber of Commerce. The quarantine phase of Chinese citizens to avoid the spread of COVID-19 infections affected its economy. All the manufacturing companies that provide vape hardware fell behind in production. The coronavirus outbreak adds up to one more layer of challenge for the vaping industry in China. But the influence is also seen globally since the country is the world’s leading generator of vaping products. 

According to the CECC, China’s vaping industry produced total sales of $4.8 billion in 2018, with exports worth $4 billion. Also, the incomplete statistics for 2019 show an estimated export volume of $6.2billion, and this indicates approximately a 175 percent national growth rate before the online sales ban, as said at an e-cigarette industry forum in December by Liu Yufeng, Vice President of the CECC.

The US-China Connection

Although the coronavirus is being known to be the central culprit in the lack of supplies seen for the manufacture of vape products worldwide. Vape product Manufacturers are also struggling with increasing tariffs due to the trade war between the US and China. The vaping industry is suffering more after the Trump administration's partial ban on flavored vape products. It occurred after increases in teenage use of vaping products. After this criticism in the US, China began to ban e-cigarettes from being sold online, furthering the disruption in the vaping industry.

While the panic of investors has jolted the US stock market and the actual COVID-19 pandemic has shut down vape production companies in China, the Chinese New Year celebration pushed delays even further. Chinese New Year fell on January 25th this year, as news of the Coronavirus outbreak was beginning to come out. A 15-day festival always follows the new year in China, and many factories remain closed for the two weeks while workers spend time with their families. Just after that, the COVID-19 outbreak took place.

US manufacturers are coming up with the developments very closely, looking at how the spread of the virus is affecting and disrupting the supply chain of vaping products.

Safe Vaping in the Times of Coronavirus

Many of the adverse effects on the vaping industry have been a result of production delays caused by the closure of factories throughout the world. And also, after the sudden outbreak of the coronavirus, the fear of products produced in China has also negatively impacted the vaping industry. Anxieties about the virus spreading from products manufactured and dispatched from China were increased when reports of COVID-19 spreading in China were first heard. Coronavirus can live on surfaces for short periods of time, and the likelihood of being infected in this way is improbable.

The fast growth in demand for vaping products in developed countries in recent years has been a big incentive for entrepreneurs to cash in on the trend. About ten years ago, the devices were initially aimed at people trying to wean themselves off traditional tobacco-based cigarettes. But they soon developed a fresh factor, as younger audiences adopted them. But this isn’t the first wave between China and the US to hit the vaporizer industry this year. The Trump Administration’s trade war with China has also been causing trouble for vape manufacturers. Almost all cannabis vape cartridges, vaporizers, and batteries are made in China. This essentially makes the cannabis vape industry a hardware industry as well—one that will be disrupted should supply lines from China fail.

How Coronavirus Can Further Affect the Vaping Industry

Wuhan city in China is identified for manufacturing and exporting billions of equipment and components for electronics, industrial equipment, and various other supplies. The coronavirus has struck the entire manufacturing supply chain throughout the country, but some industries have more alternatives. With few or no domestic options, vape companies will have to wait for the outbreak to end before their supply chains recover. 

Also, because of the earlier EVALI situation that happened in the US, some stores still may have been left with a great stock of vaping products on the shelves. This leftover supply may now help the inventory problem caused by coronavirus for some time. But because of the price increase for the same vaping products, consumers may have to pay extra as compared to earlier. Unlikely, businesses do not have any alternative but to pass those costs on to their customers. Still, in these times, compared to being quarantined without adequate medical care, paying a little extra for your vape is radically nothing.

As the world finds itself immersed in the enormous public health crisis of our lifetimes, the novel coronavirus pandemic is disrupting life for every American and most across the world, and is consistently on the top of everyone’s minds. As stressful as it is to think about the vape industry, the reality is that the coronavirus’ impact on our economy and society will leave a huge impact. 

Do the Products Shipped Contain the Coronavirus

According to studies, it is improbable that your new purchases may contain traces of the coronavirus; however, it is still better to act upon the side of caution. The virus can survive on surfaces for a few days. As a precautionary measure, we do suggest sanitizing any new products that you receive if it has been in touch with someone other than yourself. 

The coronavirus can survive 24 hours on cardboard boxes and two to three days on materials like stainless steel and plastic. The duration of time a packet takes traveling from China to the US would most likely destroy the virus. Some of the essential Coronavirus safety tips include regular hand washing and covering your mouth and nose to cough or sneeze. It is also suggested not to share your devices. We assure customers that we sanitize our warehouse multiple times throughout the day.  

Shortage of Vaping Products

As mentioned earlier, with the outbreak of the virus came mass shutdowns of factories and production centers. Besides, roadblocks and travel restrictions had halted all manufacturing of vaping products for an extended period. As the Manufacturing units have started to re-open and resume production, it will still be a while until the operations are back to normal. We advise stocking up on enough vape products to last you for the next 4-6 weeks to ensure that you aren't left short. 

According to the predictions of Agrafiotis, the coronavirus is disrupting the supply chain for vaping products, because of the travel restrictions on factory workers in the city of Shenzhen, the primary production spot for the global e-cigarette industry, with more than 1000 vape product factories operating. Most companies rely heavily on Chinese manufacturing and parts, so it is to be expected that the coronavirus will have an impact throughout the global technology sector, including the production and shipping of vape supplies around the world.

Does vaping make you vulnerable to coronavirus?

The answer to this most asked question is still not clear. Various studies that indicate that vaping causes suppressed immune functions or increased susceptibility to infections are based on experiments with lab rats or disembodied cells and do not necessarily mean human vapers. Furthermore, it is difficult to determine problems that might be caused by vaping in human beings because the vast majority of people who vape have a history of smoking tobacco. Even if vaping does have effects on immune response, lung function, or any other biological processes, it could be deceived by more obvious effects caused by past smoking.

Most stories regarding the supposed link between vaping and respiratory problems are pure speculation. This being said, surprisingly, small numbers of Chinese COVID-19 patients included in the recent studies were all smokers. It does not mean that smoking is a guarding factor, but it certainly is ambiguous. As selected as the number of smokers cases in China, all those patients approximately make up at least 25 percent of the total. Despite the arguments, if smoking leads to higher rates of infection, smokers should have been included at an even higher rate than that presented. However, the patients who smoked were more likely than non-smokers to be among the group with more severe symptoms.

The bottom line is that among all the broad claims about vaping making a consumer more likely to be infected by the coronavirus or to suffer worse outcomes from it are not at all based on research results. Most likely, anti-vaping parties or activists are merely using their clergies to scare people away from vaping, as usual. The result of that will not be a mass movement of consumers from nicotine products, but rather more towards traditional smoking, resulting in more diseases and deaths.

Controversial Vaping and Immunity Debate

Since the time vaping products became accessible in Europe and North America, people have stated reduced numbers of flu infections and colds after quitting conventional cigarettes and beginning to vape. The mystery has always been whether the drop is caused by enhanced disease resistance from no more continued smoking, or by some part of the vape that kills viruses and bacteria, or even by a placebo effect. The explanation is still not clear.

Cardiologist and vaping researcher Konstantinos Farsalinos wrote a blog about vaping and the coronavirus concluding that there is no evidence on any effects of e-cigarettes on coronavirus infectivity and disease progression, and it cannot exclude the possibility that the use of propylene glycol might have some beneficial effects. It may be that the most significant benefit of vaping is that you are not smoking cigarettes, which, of course, is the entire point and a considerable advantage indeed.

Our Take

Even though it is still too early to tell what long-term consequences this virus will have on the vape industry as a whole. But what we do know is that stock delays and logistics have and will continue to create shortages of products and delay the production of new vape products. In recovering this industry, we all have a long road ahead of us. At Kanger Wholesale USA, we are working through this challenging time to try and ensure that we can provide continued service via our website so that any client, even those who are on quarantine, can still place orders. 

Meanwhile, you can browse through our website to discover the latest vape kits, accessories, e-liquid, or any other vaping product that you are searching for. Our teams are continuously working hard at these difficult times and making every effort to ensure we continue to supply vapers because users might otherwise go back to smoking. Even if you are unable to get to a vape wholesale shop and are not familiar with online ordering, do remember that you can always contact us on our customer care helpline number or through email, and we will be happy to help you in every way possible. Without any worry, feel free to contact us with any questions and concerns you may have and to learn more about the products that we offer.