Every year, somewhere between October and December, buyers with orders in Vietnamese factories face the same choice: push this order through before the Lunar New Year, or let it run after the holiday. The difference in arrival date is large, and the wrong choice costs either quality or sales.
This article does not tell you this year’s holiday dates; they move every year and the official schedule is announced late. Instead it gives you a countdown that starts from the first day of the Lunar New Year, so you can plan the moment that date is known — and it explains why the day a factory “reopens” is not the day it is back to full production.
For 2027, the first day of the Lunar New Year falls on Saturday 6 February. Check the government’s announcement for the official holiday dates.
💬 Not sure whether an order can still make it before the holiday? Send us the order details and we will check the factory’s holiday plan and the shipping schedule for you.
The countdown, working back from the first day of Tết
Plan Tết by working back from the first day of the Lunar New Year, stage by stage, using durations you have measured for your own product, rather than waiting for the official holiday schedule.
| Step, in order | What to do | What happens if it slips |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Reserve the sailing | Ask your forwarder for pre-holiday sailings and book space | No space on the vessel you need |
| 2. Freeze the last pre-holiday order | Specification, quantity and packaging fixed; materials ordered | The factory moves the order to after the holiday |
| 3. Get the holiday plan in writing | The factory’s shutdown dates and planned restart, in writing | A plan built on “straight after the holiday” collapses |
| 4. Confirm export documents | Which certificates of origin and other documents are needed, and where they are issued | Issuing offices close; documents wait until after the break |
| 5. Pre-shipment inspection | Inspection with time left for rework and re-inspection | The people who would rework the lot have gone home |
| 6. Cargo cut-off and clearance | Goods delivered to the port before the cut-off, which comes before the sailing date | The goods wait for the next sailing |
| 7. The holiday | Factories, logistics, offices and banks stop together | — |
| 8. Official restart | The factory reopens on paper; teams may not be complete | Quality risk on the first lots |
| 9. Real restart | The line is back to normal staffing and pace | — |
To turn this into dates, put your own measured duration against each step — how long your forwarder needs to confirm space, how long your factory needs from frozen order to finished goods, how long inspection and rework take — and count back from the first day of Tết. Your first order’s actual stage durations are the best source; see planning production lead time in Vietnam.
Why waiting for the official schedule is too late
The specific Lunar New Year holiday dates are decided each year by the Prime Minister, and by the time they are announced the date to freeze your pre-holiday order may already have passed.
Article 112 of the Labour Code 2019 (Law No. 45/2019/QH14) gives five paid days for the Lunar New Year and leaves the specific dates to be decided each year by the Prime Minister. Late announcement has been recognised as a problem; in August 2026 the Ministry of Home Affairs was reported to have proposed, in a draft amendment, that holiday schedules be announced by 30 September of the preceding year. Until that is law, plan from the lunar calendar date, which is known years ahead, and adjust when the official schedule appears.
The statutory five days, and the real shutdown
The statutory Lunar New Year holiday is five paid days, but weekends and annual leave are usually joined to it, and many factories stop for longer.
The schedule is normally arranged to connect with the surrounding weekends, and private factories commonly add days before and after, especially where many workers travel to home provinces. The only reliable number is the one your factory gives you in writing for this year. Ask for it early, and ask material suppliers and your forwarder for theirs: a factory that reopens on time cannot produce if its material supplier is still closed.
Vietnam has other public holidays too, including a paid day off on 24 November for Vietnamese Culture Day from 2026; the full list is in planning production lead time in Vietnam.
💬 We check factories’ holiday plans and restart staffing on the ground, and report in English — see sourcing from Vietnam.
”Reopened” and “back to full production” are different days
Not everyone returns after the holiday, and the gap is filled by hiring and training, so there is a period between the official restart and normal output.
Ho Chi Minh City’s labour authorities reported that by 25 February 2026, after the 2026 Lunar New Year, about 95% of workers had returned to work — a shortfall of around 5%. The reasons given were familiar: some extended their holiday, some found work closer to home, some moved to employers offering better pay and benefits. Checked against Vietnamese press reports of the authority’s briefing on 17 October 2026.
Whether a shortfall of that size matters depends on who is missing. If an inspector or a skilled setter on your line does not return, that process slows or its quality slips, and the first lot after the holiday is where problems tend to show.
The practical rule: do not place a first production lot, a new factory or a specification change in the first weeks after the restart. If you must produce then, tighten the inspection for that lot, and treat it as a first lot under the change controls in preventing quality problems with a Vietnamese supplier.
Before the break or after it?
If there is not enough time left to freeze the order and still run inspection before the cut-off, do not force it; pushing before the holiday trades quality and stock risk for availability, and waiting trades availability for quality.
| Criterion | A — push it through before Tết | B — produce after Tết |
|---|---|---|
| Quality risk | Higher; inspection and rework time is what gets squeezed | Moderate; lower if you avoid the first weeks after restart |
| Cost | Rush and overtime charges are more likely | Normal terms are easier to negotiate |
| Shipping space | Peak period for pre-holiday shipments | Avoids the peak |
| Stock | You hold stock that would otherwise arrive later | No extra stock |
| Stock-out risk | Low | Higher; staple lines may lose sales |
| Best suited to | Repeat staples that must not run out | First lots, new factories, changed specifications |
The decision stalls when sales says “we cannot run out” and quality says “do not rush it”, and both are right for their own reasons. Decide by the countdown: if the remaining time does not cover the steps above with your measured durations, choose B. Building stock ahead also has a cash and storage cost; see negotiating minimum order quantities for how quantity and stock interact, and payment terms with a Vietnamese supplier for how deposits fall around the holiday.
Logistics and documents usually block first
Orders that miss Tết usually fail on shipping space and documents rather than on production, so plan space, cut-offs and certificates separately from the production finish date.
- Space. Shipments bunch up before the holiday. Goods finished in time but without space on a vessel arrive after the holiday anyway.
- Cut-off. The real deadline is the cargo cut-off, which comes before the sailing date and varies by route and forwarder. Missing one sailing can decide whether the goods clear before or after the holiday.
- Certificates of origin. They pass through issuing offices that close for the holiday. Who issues which form changed in 2025; see proof of origin by destination.
Once goods are at sea, the holiday does not stop the vessel; it stops whatever is still waiting in Vietnam. The rule is simple: every document out before the ship sails. The full document set is in the export shipping documents checklist.
💬 After the holiday we can visit the factory, check staffing and progress, and report before your first post-holiday lot ships. Tell us which orders are affected.
Frequently asked questions
1. By when must I confirm an order to receive it before Tết?
Count back from the first day of the Lunar New Year using your own measured durations for each step in the countdown: space, production, inspection and rework, cut-off. If the remaining time does not cover them, plan the order for after the holiday.
2. How many days do Vietnamese factories close?
There is no single answer. The statutory holiday is five paid days under Article 112 of the Labour Code 2019, but it is joined to weekends and many factories close for longer. Get each supplier’s dates in writing.
3. Can I reach the factory during Tết?
Individual contacts often answer, but the line, government offices and banks are not working, so you can get information but neither goods nor documents will move.
4. What happens if my goods are at sea during the holiday?
The vessel keeps sailing. What stops is anything still needed from Vietnam, such as a corrected document, until offices reopen. Issue all documents before departure.
5. Is the first lot after Tết riskier?
It tends to be, because teams may not be complete and new staff may be on the line. Avoid placing first lots or specification changes there, or inspect that lot more closely.
Sources: Labour Code No. 45/2019/QH14, Article 112; Vietnamese press reports of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Home Affairs briefing on 26 February 2026; reporting in August 2026 on the draft amendment to the Labour Code. Checked on 17 October 2026.