Something is not right in globalization when a car buyer must wait nine months to receive his vehicle; when container-laden ships queue for more than a week in the ports of Rotterdam, Antwerp or Los Angeles. Something happens when in the toy industry there are companies that do not know if they will have their products in time for the lucrative Christmas campaign. When auto plants stop because they don't have semiconductors and works are delayed due to a shortage of wood, aluminum or steel.
World trade, a logistical success for decades, has been knocked out by the pandemic for 20 months. First was the closure of borders and factories. Lately, an unaffordable demand in a context of interruptions in the factories due to specific infections, the alarming shortage of chips, an increase in savings due to public stimuli that is going to stop the purchase of physical goods due to the stoppage of services, the risky dependence on China, the lack of truckers and a general increase in prices due to the rising prices of energy, raw materials and container transport.
Many large electronic appliances such as washing machines, refrigerators and ovens have components that come from China to be assembled in the West. And factory closures, delayed shipping due to lack of containers, and bottlenecks at ports have made them short.
The examples of supply problems are multiple, from electronic cigarettes, to paper or game consoles such as the PlayStation 5, the jewel in Sony's crown, practically unobtainable for months due to the shortage of chips. In the textile sector, very present in Southeast Asia, Nike has been one of the great victims. 51% of its sneakers leave Vietnam, and due to the increase in infections, the government closed the factories for several weeks between July and September, leaving the North American brand without some 80 million pairs.
