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Global supply chain problems look to set to worsen, a new report published on Tuesday said, as China’s COVID-19 lockdowns, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and other strains cause even longer delays at ports and drive up costs. The study by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) found that one-fifth of the global container ship fleet was currently stuck in congestion at various major ports. In China, ships awaiting berth at the Port of Shanghai now tally 344, a 34% increase over the past month, while shipping something from a warehouse in China to one in the United States currently...

Wind and solar companies have reported massive profit declines over the last year as clean energy prices have risen and new installations have been delayed thanks to supply chain shortfalls, market uncertainty and the Ukraine crisis. “One of the problems with this industry as a whole is that, since at its very foundation it is based on government subsidies and government mandates, its market value is never truly known,” said Daniel Turner, the executive director of Power the Future. “90% to 95% of the supply chain does not exist,” RJ Scaringe, CEO of electric vehicle maker Rivian, told reporters in...

Summary The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is informing Food and Agriculture (FA) sector partners that ransomware actors may be more likely to attack agricultural cooperatives during critical planting and harvest seasons, disrupting operations, causing financial loss, and negatively impacting the food supply chain. The FBI noted ransomware attacks during these seasons against six grain cooperatives during the fall 2021 harvest and two attacks in early 2022 that could impact the planting season by disrupting the supply of seeds and fertilizer. Cyber actors may perceive cooperatives as lucrative targets with a willingness to pay due to the timesensitive role they...

The world's top palm-oil producer announced that it would ban exports of the commodity starting on Thursday, sending the prices of edible oils soaring. Indonesia accounts for about half of the world's supply of palm oil, the world's most widely used vegetable oil. Palm oil is used for cooking and for the production of thousands of consumer products, including biscuits, detergents, and lipsticks.In a video statement on Friday, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said the move was designed to bring down domestic palm-oil prices and ensure domestic food availability in the wake of global food inflation. "I will monitor and evaluate...

Frogs in Boiling WaterThe headlines today will naturally be all about French President Macron winning re-election over Le Pen. There was such a flood of market commentary before the vote underlining that a Le Pen victory would have been a larger shock than Brexit, etc., and EUR was up in early Asian trading despite the fact that nobody actually thought Le Pen would win: either people secretly feared she might, or it’s ‘buy the rumour, buy the fact’. However, here is an uncomfortable fact: Le Pen scored around 42% of the vote. 5 years ago she got 34%. When her...

After one-third of the horrific term of resident Joe Biden is almost complete, the United States of America is facing a series of mind-boggling crises. The Biden administration’s COVID-19 response focused on forcing Americans to wear masks and take vaccines. The President pushed mandates and lockdowns, instead of freedom. The toll on our economy, overall health and psychological well-being has been staggering. This week, in their commitment to continue these policies, the administration refused to abandon the unnecessary and ridiculous mask mandate for public transportation and will appeal a federal judge’s sensible ruling striking down this unpopular mandate. There is...

FDA on Thursday announced the availability of a draft guidance that, if finalized, would state the agency’s “intent to exercise enforcement discretion” regarding the distribution and sale of products labeled as dietary supplements and containing NAC (N-acetyl-L-cysteine). The draft guidance, which is scheduled to be published April 22 in the Federal Register, was released three weeks after FDA reaffirmed its position in responses to two citizen petitions that NAC is excluded from the definition of a dietary supplement because the ingredient was first approved as a drug in 1963. FDA, however, is still considering commencing a rulemaking to permit the...

Starve your own voters to own the libs. That appears to be Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s latest strategy for reaching the White House, given his decision to deliberately snarl traffic on the U.S. southern border — leaving food to rot and critical components for cars and other manufacturing to remain inaccessible to U.S. companies and consumers. Last week, Abbott (R) announced that state troopers would begin “enhanced” safety inspections of commercial vehicles crossing the border, ostensibly to catch illegal immigrants and drugs. Now, federal officials from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) already inspect vehicles crossing the border for human trafficking...

Labour has accused the UK government of establishing a “fake taskforce” to address supply chain disruption because it was dissolved weeks after it was announced. The National Economic Recovery Taskforce (Logistics) was announced on 14 September 2021 when supply disruption was peaking due to factors including a lorry driver shortage, but did not survive beyond a reshuffle on 21 October. Michael Gove had been appointed to head the cross-government committee. Labour Party deputy leader Angela Rayner said: “Instead of serious solutions, all they’ve got is gimmicks and fake announcements to grab cheap headlines, with no real plan to solve the...

The most recent macroeconomic figures show that the Chinese slowdown is much more severe than expected and not only attributable to the covid-19 lockdowns.,/A>The lockdowns have an enormous impact. 26 of 31 China mainland provinces have rising covid cases and the fear of a Shanghai-style lockdown is enormous. The information coming from Shanghai proves that these drastic lockdowns create an enormous damage to the population. Millions of citizens without food or medicine and rising suicides have shown that the infamous “zero covid” policy often disguises mass population control and repression.It is easy to use the covid-19 lockdowns as the reason...

Make no doubt about it, there’s something seriously disturbing about the state of the recent Covid lockdowns taking place in Shanghai. Even for China. Here is what the outbreak looks like, if we are to believe the numbers coming out of China. You’ll have to excuse me for being frank, but I simply don’t believe them. China has lied about nearly everything since the beginning of the pandemic, and they certainly don’t have the rest of the world’s best interest in mind now that they are allying with Russia economically. Source: NY Times Rather, I believe the numbers are likely...

<p>By WSBTV.com News Staff April 15, 2022 at 10:49 am EDT ATLANTA — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed a state of emergency in reaction to ongoing supply chain disruptions. The order goes into effect Saturday.</p><p>The order prohibits price gouging of goods and services, including gasoline.</p>

Video has emerged of clashes between police and people being forced out of their homes in Shanghai, as the city enters a third week of Covid lockdown. Some residential compounds are being turned into quarantine centres. Millions are confined to their homes as Shanghai battles a fresh outbreak of the virus. Anyone who tests positive is placed in quarantine. But with more than 20,000 new cases a day, authorities are struggling to find enough space.

Many goods are stuck in China at the moment and a “big problem looms” for the global economy, says IMA Asia’s Richard Martin. In the last few weeks, China has been battling its most severe Covid outbreak on the mainland since the initial shock of the pandemic in early 2020. Many goods are stuck in China right now as a result of the Covid lockdowns and it could become a “big problem” for the global economy, according to business consultant Richard Martin. “Many of the things that we use around the world that’re manufactured, have components from China and we’re...

Over 10 of China’s 34 provinces and regions blocked most entrances of their highways on April 11, and an estimated 30 million truckers are stuck on highways or in unfamiliar cities. “More than half of China can’t receive or send out goods. Thirty million trucker drivers are stranded during the deliveries,” reported by state-run Hubei Guangdianrong on April 9. “I thought I could earn 2,000 yuan ($314) more on this trip … However, I have been stranded in Shanghai for 12 days and don’t know when I can leave,” state-run magazine China Entrepreneur quoted truck driver Wei, who was locked...

Rerouting freight to avoid the extended lockdown in Shanghai, where daily confirmed COVID cases topped a record 17,000 this week, is becoming more difficult and expensive as cargo facilities in other Chinese cities become overcrowded, logistics companies and carriers warn. The logistics challenges for ocean and airfreight in Shanghai are extreme. More than 90% of truck capacity is out of service. Trucks are prevented from moving in and out of the city without a special permit, which is only valid for 24 hours and only on specific routes. “Even with this arranged, it is possible for booked trucks to...

A parking lot of vessels are waiting outside China’s largest ports as the country experiences the biggest COVID-19 outbreak in two years continues to spread amid extended lockdowns in Shanghai. Vessels carrying raw materials have increased over the last month as Shanghai’s 25 million people have been placed on lockdown, as new daily infections jumped to 26,000 on Sunday. The lockdown has shuttered factories, disrupted logistical networks, and reduced operational capacity at ports. Shipping data via Bloomberg shows 222 bulk carriers waiting off Shanghai, China’s biggest port, 15% higher than a month ago. At the Port of Ningbo-Zhoushan, there were...

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization reported on Friday they are recording the highest Food Price Index since they started recording thirty years ago. With record highs in prices for cereals, vegetable oils, dairy and meats This issue has been a slow burning fuse toward the biggest powder keg in modern history, and it is about to get very serious. We have been warning about it since last fall. In the most deliberate and painstaking ways possible, we have been urging everyone to take this issue seriously.

One of the most important products for new parents is in short supply. Baby formula, which three-quarters of babies in the U.S. receive within their first six months, is increasingly out of stock at retailers across the country. The supply of formula is so constrained that retailers like Walgreens are even limiting how much consumers can purchase at one time. A spokesperson for the drugstore chain told CBS MoneyWatch it is limiting customers to three infant and toddler formula products per transaction, citing "increased demand and various supplier issues." Supply-chain snarls related to COVID-19 are contributing to the shortage of...

A national shortage of baby formula brought on by pandemic-related supply-chain issues has forced US retailers such as Walgreens to ration the all-important product. The company - the second-largest pharmacy store chain in the United States behind CVS - said Friday that amid the supply-chain crunch, it is limiting customers to three infant and toddler formula product purchases at a time, at its 9,021 US locations. A company spokesperson told DailyMail.com that the restrictions, already in effect, stem from an 'increased demand and various supplier issues,' as it was revealed that 29 percent of all top-selling formulas are out of...