Inside FMCG January 2022 | Page 16

Insights

The weakest link

Supply chain issues highlight the interconnectivity of the system on a local and international level .
BY JAMES SHEERIN
16 insidefmcg . com . au – JAN2022

The issues affecting Australian supply chains in 2020 only compounded in 2021 . FMCG businesses in Australia were hit by continued international supply chain issues and our own domestic issues with a strained last-mile network and industrial actions .

Unprecedented demand has placed incredible strain on supply chains since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic . This demand has been building over the last five to 10 years through globalisation and e-commerce , with Covid-19 massively accelerating this demand as Australians spent much more domestically than ever before .
As we entered the second year of the pandemic with the demand only rising , global and domestic supply chain issues in 2021 became more pronounced . Events halfway across the world had ripple effects on supply chains in Australia ,