Supply chain weakest links
Chains are as strong as their weakest links. These last two years have proven that the globalised economy’s supply chain has a few weak links that need urgent attention. At the beginning of the pandemic, a shortage of toilet paper led to panic buying by many who may not necessarily understand how the just-in-time inventory system works. Thanks to the promotion of free trade in the last few decades, global trade has built its critical success factor on efficient delivery of raw materials to producers and equally efficient transportation of finished products to consumers. This is a far more complex process than meets the eye of consumers. The tensions in global trade started before the pandemic, when the US and China engaged in a tit-for-tat trade restrictions phase under Donald Trump, with the introduction of unprecedented tariffs and sanctions on Chinese companies. China retaliated, targeting US agriculture exporters. But COVID is the leading cause behind massive dislocations in the container market, shipping routes, ports, air cargo, trucking lines, railways and even warehouses. This year, consumers and suppliers do not worry about the availability of toilet paper – it is PCs,...