It's been a Hell of a Week
Greetings from Greater Noida, India.
I hope you guys are trading well and enjoying the run-up to Halloween. We are here on our twice-yearly visit to the great Indian handicrafts trade show, and tomorrow is the last day. Miles of aisles, hundreds of conversations, old friends, new ideas… and that familiar feeling that the most exciting discovery is probably waiting on the one stand we haven’t visited yet. Almost a relaxing end to one hell of a week.
Last week I was telling you about the 6p boat trip on the Ganges. If you missed it, you can catch up here. This week our transport arrangements have been rather more expensive, and considerably less relaxing.
The Autumn Fair Delhi - hot and peaceful outside - hot and bothered inside!
But first, news from Bali.
Tomas and Raul are there working with our developers at the IT office. Lots happening, lots to get excited about. Unfortunately, getting people to the office has suddenly become a project in itself.
Bali has been hit by a massive petrol shortage. Huge queues snake along the roads, sometimes leading to stations with nothing left to sell. Our guys report waiting for hours because tanker problems and bad weather disrupted deliveries. They say panic buying is making matters worse. Authorities say supplies are being restored, and been saying that for too long.. fuel in a depot is little comfort when your motorbike is running on hope.
Every road is a long line of motor bikes leading to a shuttered petrol station. The situation is very bad, and as I write, there is no sign of improvement despite government promises. Similar disruption has been reported in other parts of Indonesia too. It feels like a much bigger story than the attention it is getting outside the country.
Our team has organised bike sharing and working from home to keep things moving. But you can’t work from home on behalf of a delivery truck. Stock that should be arriving at our Bali warehouse isn’t getting there. You can have clever software, enthusiastic people and a long list of plans… then discover that everything depends on somebody finding two litres of petrol. Is this the future?
Meanwhile, here in India, another shortage is taking shape. This one involves wood, paperwork and four letters you have probably never heard of: EUDR.
The EU Deforestation Regulation. A good idea with an important purpose: to stop European consumption contributing to deforestation. For wooden products, that means evidence of legal sourcing and traceability back to the land where the timber grew. The application date is currently 30 December 2026, so anything we order now will arrive after this date. It seems here at the show.. this information is just dawning on them..
In everyday language, your little wooden incense holder is going to need rather more of a life history than most people can supply when applying for a mortgage.
There have been talks on the centre stage here, announcements over the tannoys and plenty of worried conversations on the stands.
Our main ash catcher supplier, Rashid, has spent the last six months desperately trying to get himself and his mango wood suppliers ready. He has been making test purchases of raw wood and sending me document packs to check. So far, every pack has had gaps we haven’t been able to accept. Rashid is more ahead of the game than most companies in the trade show.
But I know he is at his wits’ end. This is a man who wants to make things, employ people and sell us nice products. Instead, he is chasing the paperwork behind the paperwork behind a piece of wood.
Orders we place now for covered wooden products destined for the EU have to be planned around these requirements. We can’t wait until the goods are packed to discover that the trail stops at “bought it from the usual chap”. When we ask wooden handicraft companies here about EUDR, the answers range from “Never heard of it” to “Yes, of course, you can trust us.”
I would love to. But trust, unfortunately, isn’t a document you can upload.
Good old Rashid is the one actually showing us the work, including the bits that aren’t going right. Some familiar big exhibitors are missing this year too. I don’t know their reasons, but there is certainly a lot of uncertainty around the wooden ranges.
The wood crunch is coming.
My worry is that there will be a wood crunch. I can see us running short of some boxes and ash catchers during 2027 if suppliers cannot get through this. Some people here are talking about prices doubling. That is a prediction, not a price announcement, but it gives you a sense of the mood.
Saving forests matters. So do the small workshops and artisan families trying to earn a living without destroying them. I hope we can find a workable way to protect both.
Now, back to our arrival in Delhi…
After Kolkata, we headed into central Delhi to meet suppliers before the show. Our hotel was in Connaught Place. Very convenient, I thought.
It also happened to be right in the middle of the “Cockroach” protest action. Our Uber driver flatly refused to take us there. After some negotiation, and an extra financial incentive, he agreed to get us as close as he could. What followed was a wild ride towards an increasingly sealed-off city centre. He finally deposited us about two kilometres from the hotel, beside a bus from which security personnel were hauling protesters.
Oddly, amid all the commotion, much of the exchange seemed surprisingly good-humoured. We even sensed some sympathy from the people in uniform. But it was difficult to know exactly what was happening, and standing there with suitcases didn’t feel like the moment to conduct interviews.
So we walked. Four travellers dragging their luggage through 35-degree heat, past crowds and security lines, heading towards the main barriers. We had booked a hotel with a central location and received the full immersive experience. Someone told us there were 45,000 security personnel deployed and that only 20,000 protesters had made it through the various blocks. I can confirm there were quite enough of both to make reaching reception unusually complicated.
The hotel staff looked astonished when we arrived. Almost none of their colleagues had managed to get in.
That evening, Connaught Place felt very strange. Shutters down, little of the usual bustle, and hardly anywhere to eat. We found one restaurant open with a limited menu. After the afternoon’s expedition, “something available” had become our favourite cuisine.
So that has been our week. In Bali, the team are finding ways around empty petrol pumps. Here, Rashid is trying to get a wooden ash catcher through a forest of paperwork. And we have discovered that a confirmed hotel booking does not necessarily mean you can reach the hotel. It's been a HELL of aweek.
Behind every product arriving on your shelves, there are people dealing with all sorts of things you never see. This week, I’ve been particularly grateful for ours.
There are still lovely things to discover here, and plenty of ideas coming home with us. We’ll keep working on getting the products home too!
Meanwhile, Halloween is almost upon us, and Christmas is waiting just behind it, pretending it isn’t. I hope your shops are busy, your deliveries arrive smoothly and your own adventures are mostly confined to choosing what to stock next.
Have a look at the new arrivals and deals below. Lots of new products arrived this week...
Warm greetings from Greater Noida. Take care, and happy trading.
