Mario Cordero Mario Cordero, executive director of long Beach, the largest container port in the United States, told Bloomberg this week that as congestion continues to haunt the supply chain, Americans should now buy their holiday gifts.

Shop early because these delays and bottlenecks will last until the end of the year. I hope we will have some strong mitigation factors.

The port of long Beach and the neighboring port of Los Angeles handle 40% of all container cargo in the United States. At both ports, more than 103 container ships were waiting at docks or at sea on Wednesday, an all-time high. Before the outbreak, the average backlog of ships at the port was between 10 and 20.

Previously, in addition to the widely recognized factors of the COVID-19 epidemic, other analysts believed that the main problem in the supply chain actually lies in the two laws passed by California: the first is to address "climate change" and the second is the AB-5 bill, which is supported by trade unions.

The worsening supply chain challenges will only complicate the situation for the Biden administration, which recently announced measures to operate ports 24 hours a day and 7 days a day is nothing but empty talk.

The White House even discussed weighing whether to use the National Guard to ease the tension in the supply chain so that Americans can expect to buy consumer goods before Christmas.

The World Bank and IHS Markit rank the two ports as the most inefficient in the world, suggesting that structural problems continue to cause congestion in key supply chains that could ruin Christmas for some people.

But not all American consumers will increase holiday spending this year. According to a Deloitte report, 11.5% of American families do not plan to buy holiday gifts this year, more than double the normal situation.

The study predicts that with less anxiety about the epidemic and stable consumer sentiment, the average holiday spending per household will reach $1463, an increase of 5 per cent over 2020. But it's all driven by high-income shoppers.

In addition, the proportion of consumers who do not plan to spend at all this quarter is 11.5%, more than double that of 2020 (4.9%). 65% of this non-consumer group comes from low-income families, while 12% comes from high-income families.

At the same time, the report also pointed out that 68% of consumers expect prices to rise this quarter, while 50% of retail executives expect prices to rise this quarter. Deloitte said low-income shoppers were expected to spend less based on inflation expectations.

According to the report, each household is expected to spend $501 on gifts, an increase of 3 per cent since 2020, while non-gift spending will reach $426 per household.

At the same time, the retail sector remains optimistic, as 70% of people expect consumers to spend more than a year earlier. However, 60% of retail executives worry that consumers will not be able to receive holiday orders in time. 75% of consumers are worried about being out of stock, prompting consumers to start shopping earlier this year.