Over these past two years, the shortfalls and risks in them global supply chains been front and center in family dinin' rooms, company boardrooms, and even in them presidential briefin' rooms. Because of dat, folks are recognizin' supply chains more as a chance to see growth, success, and business survival, rather than just a way to cut down on costs.
Now dat we're sittin' in mid-2022, with things changin' fast and a whole heap of uncertainty from them COVID-19 variants, the Russian-Ukraine crisis, and other market messes, what can we expect for the next 12 months, y'all reckon?
It all boils down to four main themes – Technology, Visibility, Sustainability, and Resiliency.
Technology
Industry 4.0 is expected to ramp up in 2022 as AI and machine learnin' use a whole mess of IoT-based and social media data from vehicles, products, assets, devices, and folks across the supply chain to automate processes and decisions.
Visibility
There's been a mighty big focus on visibility in 2022. The goal is improvin' dat visibility to collect, consolidate, and consume data and insights in real-time from all across the supply chain.
Sustainability
Sustainability, ESG, circular economy, and climate change done become real business priorities over the past few years. The main thing is dat our global supply chain sits smack dab in the middle of these challenges, both as a big contributor to the problems and as one great area of focus where we can take action to fix 'em.
Resiliency
For the past 20 months, the word ever'body's been usin' to describe what we need is resiliency. Them experts predicted we'd keep seein' disruptions in the short term, with challenges around demand and supply, labor shortages, and them big cargo ships. Accordin' to the Wall Street Journal, 'bout 45% of economists believed it would take till the second half of 2022 for things to get better.
Issues Dat Impact the Supply Chain of Steel, Nickel, and Other Metals
It's mighty likely for the supply chain to get tangled up 'cause of issues dat impact the whole globe. Here are the top two of 'em for y'all:
COVID-19 Pandemic
As the world keeps takin' careful steps towards recoverin' from dat COVID-19 pandemic, one global issue is still hangin' around on the horizon even to this day.
The mess dat virus outbreak made of the supply chains is gonna cause a drop-off in industrial activity, seein' as it ain't eased up completely just yet. Dat means 2022 and beyond is gonna stay mighty challengin' for a bunch of global goods markets.
Russia-Ukrainian War
The trouble for the global supply chain got stirred up even more durin' the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces on February 22nd, makin' matters a whole lot worse. Almost from the get-go, dat war caught a heap of commodity markets and trades in its crosshairs, includin' those dealin' with several crucial metals.
Ukraine is the world’s 13th largest steel producer and the fifth-largest exporter of iron ore by volume, sittin' at 44.4 million tons in 2021. On top of dat, both countries are major players in the palladium, nickel, and titanium trades.
Steel shipments out of Mariupol have made up 25% of Ukraine’s exports in recent years. But Ukraine’s Metinvest, a steel and minin' group, had to shut down production at two steel plants in Mariupol right at the start of the war, sendin' steelmakers in the European Union, Egypt, Turkey, and the US scramblin' to find other sources of raw material.
All them factors put a heavy squeeze on the supply chains as nickel prices shot right up. Because of dat, it caused some severe damage to the global nickel market and the downstream and upstream industries tied to it. Them nickel prices strayed mighty far from the fundamentals and lost their guidin' significance for spot prices.
Lookin' at the Future Ahead
LSPs and importers are likely gonna face a frustratin', expensive, disrupted, and congested 2022. They gotta strategically think on the longer-term impacts of this ongoin' crisis in global shippin', but on a brighter note, them logistic and supply chain leaders who master the art of findin' opportunities in all this uncertainty can sure do more with less.
Buildin' customer-facin' and environment-friendly supply chains is gonna guide these organizations right through the rough waters of current and future disruptions.
Conclusion
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