Stores continue their struggle to stock infant formula despite months of efforts by manufacturers and the Biden government to boost supply. According to the research firm IRI, the availability of powdered formula products in U.S. stores dropped to the lowest earlier this month with about 30% of products out of stock. Learn More.
Germany’s Hapag Lloyd was one of the first major European carriers to suspend bookings for Russian cargo. Russian container trade volumes fell virtually quickly after cargo bans, as seen by data from the Kiel Institute:
Arriving container loads at Russian ports have plunged since late-February
Source: Kiel Trade Indicator
For MSC, this entailed transporting Russian food imports and exports, including frozen meat and UN humanitarian cargo, while attempting to abide by sanctions regulations. According to the premise, doing so lessens the suffering of the Russian people and prevents the spread of food crises to other countries. Read More.
Chinese exports rapidly increased in June, pushing the nation’s trade surplus to a whopping $98 billion. After Shanghai’s reopening, this was the second highest monthly export in three decades.
China’s trade surplus hit a record $98 billion in June on buoyant exports
Source: General Administration of Customs
As per Bloomberg reports, Shanghai’s reopening seems to be easing supply-chain snarls for both China and the world. Read More.
The supply chain crisis is a result of multiple causes including geopolitical concerns, high transportation costs, and bottlenecks for US-based businesses. The Chinese zero-covid policies also considerably impacted port congestions and thus downstream disruption of global supply chains. The American industries have long been dependent on Asian manufacturers and the result of this dependence has led to unprecedented delays, port congestions, rising freight rates, and pandemic-related health regulations rendering the US enterprises vulnerable.
Scott Price, president of UPS International, said that there would be “a migration to new supply chain models”—meaning goods producers will relocate existing capacity to factories closer to their consumers.
This points toward the need for manufacturers and suppliers to make various tactical adjustments and strategic shifts in order to manage the supply chain issue. However, such a strategic shift doesn’t necessarily mean the end of globalization. Learn More.
On Thursday, July 21, SAP will release its full second-quarter 2022 results. In a virtual analyst conference, SAP CEO Christian Klein and CFO Luka Mucic will report financial results for the second quarter and provide a view of the current fiscal year.
Click here to know about the virtual analyst conference.