US Firms In China Suffering “Severe Shortages Of Workers,” Warn Virus Impact Hitting Supply Chains
The global supply chain Armageddon is happening. The economies of the world are more interconnected than ever. There are many ‘single points of failure’ in these complex and global operations, of which many of them originate in China.
A new poll via Shanghai’s American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) discovered that 50% of US firms operating in China say shutdowns of factories have impacted their global operations due to the Covid-19 outbreak, reported Reuters.
About 78% of these firms warn that their staffing is currently short at the moment, which would prevent the resumption of full production, leading to massive shortages of products in the next several months for Western markets.
Many of these companies, about 109 in total, have operations in Shanghai, Suzhou, Nanjing, and across the Yangtze River Delta, are regions currently experiencing mass quarantine of citizens, industrial hubs shuttered, and transportation networks halted.
“The biggest problem is the lack of workers as they are subjected to travel restrictions and quarantines, the number one and number two problems identified in the survey. Anyone coming from outside the immediate area undergoes a 14-day quarantine,” said AmCham President Ker Gibbs.
“Therefore, most factories have a severe shortage of workers, even after they are allowed to open. This is going to have a severe impact on global supply chains that are only beginning to show up.”
As we noted earlier this month, many companies were slated for last Monday to resume production, with full production expected by the end of this month. However, that’s likely not going to happen, throwing much of the world’s complex supply chains into chaos.
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