The wave of parcels from China causes additional costs for companies operating in Finland

According to the Finnish Commerce Federation’s report*, the number of visits to Chinese online stores and marketplaces has almost tripled this Christmas when compared to two years ago. In November, more than 4.8 million online visits were made, of which 56 per cent were made to Temu’s website, 37 per cent to Aliexpress’s website and over four per cent to Shein’s website, which was the third most popular.

Of course, browsing online stores does not always lead to buying. According to the report, 30 per cent of women and 32 per cent of men aged 18–79 have ordered purchases from Chinese online stores or marketplaces during the past year.

Men aged 35–49, families with children and Finns who feel that their financial situation is the weakest purchase from these stores and marketplaces most frequently. In the Helsinki metropolitan area, buying from Chinese online stores or marketplaces is less common than in the rest of the country, while in Eastern and Northern Finland it is the most common.

Customs’ new statistics for December indicate the explosive increase in the number of shipments in e-commerce outside the EU. In January–October, consignments worth EUR 150 or less increased by 1,228 per cent when compared to the previous year. The number of consignments increased from 1.7 million to 22.7 million in one year. Of these, as many as 97.7 per cent came from China.

The number of parcels from China challenges the producer responsibility model

In the EU, the idea of producer responsibility is to promote the circular economy so that every company bringing products to the market, such as retailers, is responsible for the costs of the waste management and recycling of the products they sell at the end of their life cycle. Producer responsibility enables consumers to recycle products subject to producer responsibility, such as batteries, electrical and electronic equipment and packaging, free of charge.

However, the authority that supervises producer responsibility in Finland is facing an impossible task in the wave of parcels from China, because it does not have the resources to monitor whether companies operating from China comply with legislation and whether they participate in the payments of the producer responsibility obligation.

In practice, the costs of the waste management and recycling of all products, including those ordered from outside the EU, mainly become the responsibility of companies operating in Finland, which further weakens their competitive position. However, these companies create employment in Finland and pay their taxes to Finland, which is used to finance the services of society.

A solution to the unfair competitive position of companies must be sought in the European Union.

“To correct the unfair competitive situation, urgent action is needed at the EU level,” says Kari Luoto, Managing Director of the Finnish Commerce Federation.

“The government must require the Commission to ensure that companies operating from outside the EU comply with the same regulations and obligations as those imposed on companies operating in the EU. If a company selling its products through the platform has not fulfilled its producer responsibility obligations, the obligation should be transferred to the platforms,” Luoto explains.

For further information, please contact: Kari Luoto, Managing Director, Finnish Commerce Federation

Interview requests for Kari Luoto: Anu Punkari, Communications Specialist, Finnish Commerce Federation, tel. +358 (0)50 303 7830 or anu.punkari(at)kauppa.fi

Attachment: Suomalaiset kiinalaisten verkkokauppojen asiakkaina (“Finns as customers of Chinese online stores”): Suomalaiset kiinalaisten verkkokauppojen asiakkaina

* The report by Jaana Kurjenoja, Chief Economist at the Finnish Commerce Federation, is based on the roaming data generated by Similarweb’s Market Analysis tool and consumer surveys carried out by Kantar Finland in weeks 45 and 49. The consumer survey samples included 1,063 and 1,082 continental Finns aged 18–79. Jaana Kurjenoja and Kantar Finland created the questions of the consumer surveys in cooperation, and Kurjenoja is responsible for analysing the results.