Anyone who tried to find toilet paper in 2020 knows how a product supply chain issue can affect a home. Most producers and retailers believed those issues were in the past as everything is fully reopened and the pandemic of 2020 is in the rearview mirror.
However, geopolitical tensions, military clashes, and logistics nightmares are threatening production supply chains again in 2024.
Typically, it takes two to three months for a product-supply chain problem to affect the amount of products on store shelves. Expect to see more empty shelves around early to mid-summer.
Two of the major global trade corridors, which are the Panama and Suez Canal, have seen disruptions. Those are two important routes because they cut distances for ships. The Ukraine-Russia war is making navigating the Black Sea a problem and military clashes in the Red Sea threaten that global trade route.
Mass migration of illegal aliens is causing major disruptions from the Panama Canal to the southern border. It is impossible to work around that because the only other route is around South America.
Wars are putting supplies of grain, oil, and consumer items at risk as much of that comes from Ukraine, Russia, and the Middle East. Those also affect products that use those supplies, like beer, cereals, and flour.
Necessity is the mother of invention and many startups are creating new supply chains to avoid dependence on the old ones and provide a more sustainable approach. However, change takes time, and shifting from one way of supplying products to another isn’t an easy feat. There could be some lag time between the two as resources are diverted.