Customers from India choose products at a wholesale market in Yiwu, East China's Zhejiang Province. File photo: VCG

Affected by the viral epidemic in China, Indian toymakers face increasing uncertainty as their stocks are to run out in the coming months. Industry insiders said that since the Indian market is overly relying on Chinese toy imports, the disrupted supply chain of Chinese producers will be a big problem for Indian dealers.

Li Guo, an industry insider, told the Global Times on Thursday that toy exports to India had fallen 30 percent in February year-on-year.

"Given that the Indian toy market is almost 100 percent dependent on imports from China, especially electric toys, the impact can be huge," he said. Some Indian merchants only have four to five months' inventory and if Chinese manufacturers cannot supply more, their sales will be hurt, he said.

The Holi Festival, which falls on March 10, is usually a busy period for the toy sector, but that may change this year.

"Indians prefer festive items such as decorations or water cannon toys, especially during the holidays, but orders from India are low due to the current slow resumption of work in China," said Li.

According to a statement that the Guangdong Toy Association sent to the Global Times on Thursday, based on their survey of 130 local toy companies in late February, only 45.3 percent had returned to work and orders at 71.5 percent had decreased, 66 percent of enterprises were short of employees and 70 percent of firms wanted a tax break. The situation was even worse than during the 2008 global financial crisis.

The disruption caused by the epidemic outbreak has affected the whole nation, ranging from South China's Guangdong Province, where China's largest toy production and export base is located, to the world's largest small commodity wholesale market Yiwu, in East China's Zhejiang Province.

Li Guzhong, manager of Yiwu Xinyi Toy Co, which makes toys such as water gun for the summer, told the Global Times on Thursday that his company is only working at about 30 percent of its capacity now.

"Because of the epidemic, many foreign businessmen are not coming to China for orders," Li Guzhong said. With no business at his company, he has sent his workers to other factories. 

Overseas clients won't place orders until May, he said.

Another toy supplier Qiao Fei, whose company exports to Europe, the US and India, told the Global Times that there are not many foreign orders these days.

"There are inquiries from foreign wholesalers from countries including India, but the number of deals is now down by one-third compared with the same period last year," Qiao said.

Further, India is not the company's main targeted market, he said.  

"Orders for cheap toys such as toy water guns from India were very big, often more than one million yuan, but the prices they offered were too low to cover the cost of a quality product, so we are targeting Western markets now," Qiao said.

Imports from China are around 75 percent of the market,  and the "quality and variety of international toys are superior to those manufactured in India, plus imported toys are more affordable," according to a report by the Financial Express on February 11, citing a statement by an India-based import and export traders organization West Bengal Exim Association.