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Electronics, iPhones, clothes, and raw materials are in short supply and could take much longer to get here as the novel coronavirus outbreak slows global trade.
More than 60 countries now have cases of Covid-19, with the outbreak limiting travel, trade, and shipping.
Stats NZ said the virus may have cost as much as $300 million in lost exports to China in the past month.
Meat company Silver Fern Farms said the port in Shanghai was at capacity and ships were unable to unload there.
In addition, factory closures in China because of the coronavirus outbreak have left New Zealand outlets short of vacuums, televisions and iPhones.
Stock levels across businesses are running low and are unable to be replenished as shipping routes slow and change around the virus.
Noel Leeming merchandise executive general manager Jason Bell said they had sufficient stock for now, but a few lines had run out.
"We are expecting that there could be delays from April but the extent of that is unclear at this stage."
The Warehouse and Warehouse Stationery was closely monitoring the effect of Covid-19 on its supply chain.
Chief sourcing officer Tania Benyon said some shipments from China, including winter clothing, could be delayed by up to eight weeks, but they had started sourcing goods elsewhere.
"We have options available to us as we have factories manufacturing products outside China, and in addition to our NZ operations we have an office in India."
Apple has told its investors the number of iPhones would be limited and slow to return to normal.
It is already difficult to get them here with some models completely out of stock in at least one major retailer.
Kenneth Leong, chairperson of the Association of South East Asian Nations Business Council, said manufacturers who used raw material from China were having a nightmare getting supplies.
This included clothing factories trying to bring in fabric, he said.
"Importers and exporters are currently experiencing very significant disruptions to global supply chains. Although some manufacturers may be looking to source products from outside China, the reality is a lot of their raw components come from China."
Leong said trade had been restricted for about a month and businesses were fast running out of stock - although he would not name them.
Plastics New Zealand chief executive Rachel Barker said the problem was widespread across multiple sectors - like packaging and food and also medical supplies.
"A company who manufactures medical devices which go all over the world, but their electronics come from China ... because of those issues with shipping from China at the moment, they have had some problems actually getting those electronics to then make the product to then ship to China."
Food and Grocery Council chief executive Katherine Rich said industry was having to work hard to find other sources.
"New Zealand's economy is interwoven with the economy of China and so we are starting to see products that have been ordered not be able to be dispatched, also ingredients for New Zealand food manufactures being difficult to source," Rich said.
It was not a problem that exclusively affected importers - exporters had also taken a financial hit.
RELATED: Photos: Coronavirus/COVID-19 outbreak
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China has been battling an outbreak of a new SARS-like coronavirus, named 2019-nCoV, with the city of Wuhan as the epicenter. So far, 425 people have died because of the disease and more than 20,000 people have been confirmed infected. China has allocated $144 million to combat the virus. The country and several of its cities are under a travel lockdown as other nations try to contain the spread of the virus. Philippines reported the first death outside of China on Feb. 2, 2020, and Hong Kong on Feb. 3. Other countries such as Spain, India, Canada, France, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, South Korea, Japan, Germany and the U.S. have reported confirmed cases of the infection. The U.S. declared a public health emergency on Jan. 31 and said foreign nationals who have visited China in the past two weeks would be denied entry. On Jan. 30, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a global emergency. As part of its efforts to fight the virus, China has built a specialized hospital in just a few days.
(Pictured) Stewardesses take temperatures of passengers as a preventive measure on an Air China flight from Melbourne, Australia, to Beijing, China, at the Beijing Capital International Airport on Feb. 4.
Beds are set up at an exhibition center, which was converted into a hospital, in Wuhan on Feb. 4.
This handout photo released by Malaysia's Ministry of Health shows citizens being directed onto a bus by health officials as they arrive at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia in Feb. 4.
People wear face masks as they go about their daily lives in Singapore on Feb. 4.
Medical workers hold a strike outside the office of Hospital Authority in Hong Kong, as they demand the closure of borders with China, on Feb. 4.
A passenger wears a protective mask on a train in Hong Kong on Feb. 4.
A devotee wears a mask as he sorts out offerings at a temple in Taipei, Taiwan, on Feb. 4.
A nurse checks the temperature of a visitor as part of the coronavirus screening procedure at a hospital in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Feb. 3.
Police walk past signage before the arrival of Myanmar students, who were evacuated on a chartered flight from Wuhan, at the international airport in Mandalay, Myanmar, on Feb. 2.
Members of the Association for Sri Lanka and China Social and Cultural Cooperation (ASLCSCC) hold candles during a vigil to pray for people who are suffering from the coronavirus in the world, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Feb. 1.
German Minister for Defense Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (R) and German Minister for Health Jens Spahn give a joint statement in Bonn, Germany, on Feb. 1, on the evacuation of more than 100 German citizens from Wuhan following the coronavirus outbreak.
Alex Azar, U.S. secretary of health and human services, speaks during a press briefing on the coronavirus at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 31.
Arnaud Fontanet, director of global health department at Institut Pasteur, speaks during a news conference over the latest findings on coronavirus in Paris, France, on Jan. 31.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, and Didier Houssin, chair of the emergency committee, at the opening of the second meeting of the International Health Regulations (IHR) Emergency Committee for Pneumonia due to the Novel Coronavirus 2019-nCoV in Geneva, Switzerland, on Jan. 30.
Medical staff with protective clothing are seen inside a ward specialized in treating people who may have been infected with the virus, at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General hospital in Chennai, India, on Jan. 29.
Tedros Adhanom, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), speaks during a news conference at the United Nations, in Geneva, on Jan. 29.
Passengers arriving on flights wear protective masks at the international airport in Auckland, New Zealand, on Jan. 29.
A medical worker in a protective suit checks the body temperature of a driver at a checkpoint outside the city of Yueyang, China, on Jan. 28.
Students disinfect their hands before entering class at a school in Phnom Penh, on Jan. 28. Cambodia's health ministry reported the country's first case of coronavirus on Jan. 27.
A woman wearing a protective mask prays at the Lungshan Temple on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, in Taipei, Taiwan, on Jan. 28.
Paramilitary officers wearing face masks stand guard at the Tiananmen Gate in Beijing, on Jan. 27.
Dr. David Williams, the chief medical officer of Ontario (C), speaks as Dr. Eileen de Villa, medical officer of health for the city of Toronto (L) and Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Ontario's associate chief medical officer of health, during a press briefing on coronavirus at Queens Park in Toronto, Canada, on Jan. 27. The Ontario health officials announced the confirmation of the first case of coronavirus in Toronto, along with a presumptive second case of the virus in the city.
A woman wearing a face mask walks out of a supermarket in Beijing, on Jan. 26.
Images captured by a thermographic imaging device to check the temperatures of arriving passengers at a quarantine station are seen on a monitor at the Oscar Arnulfo Romero International Airport in San Luis Talpa, El Salvador, on Jan. 26.
A security force member stands in front of the pandemic center where a suspected case of coronavirus is under observation at Félix Houphouët Boigny International Airport in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on Jan. 26.
A banner placed by Indian health workers is seen during a coronavirus information camp for travelers at an India-Nepal border crossing, near Siliguri, India, on Jan. 26.
(L-R) Sabine Hagenauer of the infection department at the 4th medical department of Kaiser Franz Josef Hospital, Michael Binder, medical director of the Vienna Hospital Association, and Judith Aberle of the department of virology, Medical University Vienna, address a press conference at Kaiser-Franz-Josef hospital in Vienna, Austria, on Jan. 26. A Chinese flight attendant was quarantined in the hospital with symptoms of flu, in what authorities suspected as the first coronavirus case in the country.
A health worker checks the temperature of a woman entering a subway station in Beijing, on Jan. 25.
Dozens of diggers work to build a new hospital in Wuhan, on Jan. 25. Due to the large number of infected people, the government decided to establish a temporary 1,000-bed hospital.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam addresses a press conference in Hong Kong on Jan. 25. Announcing a citywide virus emergency, Lam ordered the cancellation of all official trips to mainland China and school shutdown till Feb. 17.
A police officer stands guard in front of the closed gate of Lama Temple in Beijing on Jan. 25. A notice reads that the temple is closed due to safety concerns following the outbreak of a new coronavirus.
Security personnel wearing hazardous material suits measure body temperatures of passenger at the entrance of a subway station in Beijing on Jan. 25.
A disinfection worker wearing protective gear sprays anti-septic solution in a train at SRT train station in Seoul, on Jan. 24.
Sanitation workers spray a disinfectant at Suseo Station in Seoul, on Jan. 24.
A passenger holds up an Australian Government document pertaining to the coronavirus as passengers arrive at Sydney International Airport in Australia on Jan. 23.
Locals wear face masks while browsing in a store ahead of the Lunar New Year, in Taipei, on Jan. 23, 2020. A day earlier, Taiwan stopped sending tour groups to, or receiving tour groups from Wuhan, China, due to concerns over the cornonavirus outbreak.
Passengers arriving from China are screened at Kolkata International Airport, India, on Jan. 22, 2020. Screening centers have been set up in the Indian cities of Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Cochin apart from three airports at Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata to screen for the coronavirus.
People walk next to signage detailing hygienic practices to prevent the spread of the coronavirus at the Huashan Hospital in Shanghai, China, on Jan. 21.