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100+ Supply Chain Crisis Statistics: The Issues and Impact of Supply Chain Shortages in 2022

By Martha Kendall Custard • 1 Apr 2022

Will the supply chain ever catch a break? While the industry continues to be rocked by world events, uncertainty has become the new normal.

With every link of the supply chain impacting businesses both large and small, keeping up with the globally disrupted supply chain evolution is a recipe for whiplash. In this blog post, we’ve compiled a list of over 100 supply chain crisis statistics to help you stay informed and build a more agile, resilient supply chain.

 

Statistics covered in the article include:

 

But, before we dig into the data – let’s start on a positive note:

Supply Chain Statistics Show Challenges, but the Industry Remains Resilient

It’s no secret there are plenty of issues at play within today’s supply chain crisis. But, before we dive into the statistics, it’s worth noting – today’s supply chain professionals have risen to the challenge.

Industry professionals have put in tireless hours and taken strategic measures to keep the supply chain moving and meet customer demand. Such measures include communicating with suppliers and customers, using demand shaping to overcome inventory shortages, seeking additional suppliers, and building more onshore facilities.

Learn more on how to overcome today’s supply chain challenges by securing the free guide, 8 Winning Strategies to Combat Supply Shortages.

And, to all of our supply chain friends – we thank you for your endless efforts to keep the supply chain in motion!

How the Supply Chain Crisis is Impacting Businesses and Consumers

  • 66% of consumers are concerned that supply chain issues will never end (Chain Store Age)
  • 82% of people have concerns that the supply chain will ruin life plans, such as birthdays, vacations, holidays, and the purchasing of necessary items. (Material Handling & Logistics)
  • 60% of consumers were unable to get a product due to shortages (Gallup)
  • Buyers have a negative emotional response to supply chain shortages: 61% have felt frustrated, 46% impatient, 45% anxious, and 34% angry. (Chain Store Age)
  • In 2021, 87% of Americans were negatively impacted by the supply chain. (Material Handling & Logistics)
  • 75% of companies felt negative or strongly negative impacts on their business due to supply chain disruption (Accenture)

  • It is estimated supply chain disruptions and inventory shortages affect 4% of inventory for some large companies, and 40% of inventory for smaller companies. (AdAge)
  • In Fortune 500 earnings calls for Q3 of 2021, “supply chain” mentions were up 412% from Q3 in 2020. (Reuters)
  • Thanks to container prices rising as much as 600%, money that could be used for advertising went to freight companies instead. (AdAge)
  • 28% of global retailers have tried to find alternative sourcing options due to supply chain issues (RetailNext, 2020)
  • 58% of consumers would stop buying from a brand entirely after one to three supply chain delays or disruptions. (AdAge)

 

Tip: Consumers have demonstrated brand loyalty is low when faced with stock-outs. Overcome supply chain challenges – and maximize margins in the face of inflation – with retail planning software and demand forecasting tools.

Raw Material Shortages Are Affecting a Challenged Supply Chain

  • Inverto’s annual raw material study revealed that 89% of respondents were experiencing limited availability of raw materials. 49% of respondents were from the manufacturing industry, 16% from the mechanical engineering sector, and 11% from the automotive market. (Consultancy UK)


Source: Consultancy.UK

  • Due to petrochemical producers cutting production following Covid-19, and a variety of storms and hurricanes, base chemicals are in short supply, leading to slower production at paint makers including Sherwin-Williams and PPG. In fact, Sherwin Williams cut sales by 3.5% in the second quarter of 2021 due to a lack of raw materials. (PBS)
  • China slowed production of aluminum and other energy-intensive metals in 2021 in an effort to reduce carbon emissions, leaving primary production in the country 1.2 million below the bank’s expectations. (Supply Chain Dive)
  • Wildfires, mudslides, and flooding delayed lumber shipments, leading to a shortage that saw the cash market price for lumber reach $1,111 per thousand board feet in 2022 – almost triple its bottom price in August. (Fortune)


Image source: Fortune

  • Plastic resins were in short supply all of 2021, with prices skyrocketing by up to 50%. (Supply Chain Dive)
  • Over 90% of SMEs in Europe’s plastics converting industry were affected by the supply crisis, with many plastic converters reducing production and accepting less – or no – new customers. (European Plastic Converters)
  • Cotton production in India could dip 4% from 2021, down to 34 million bales in the 2021/2022 marketing year. (Reuters)
  • It is believed the deficit in the global refined copper market deepened to almost 900,000 tons in 2021, following 2020’s deficit of 530,000 tons. (FastMarkets)
  • Global paper output is expected to be 4 million tons short of its 2018 level, with predictions of 416 million tons in 2022. (IWCO)

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The Semiconductor Shortage and Plans for Increased Chip Production

  • A variety of chips will remain in short supply throughout 2022. As some component lead times push into 2023, the shortage is expected to last 24 months before it recedes – similar to the chip shortage of 2008-2009. (Deloitte Global)
  • AlixPartners predicts shortages related to semiconductors will cost the auto industry $210 billion in revenue this year. (AlixPartners)
  • Global semiconductor industry sales reached a total of $555.9 billion in 2021 – the highest ever, and 26.2% higher than 2020. (Semiconductor Industry Association)
  • The United States’ and Europe’s production of global semiconductors decreased from approximately 80% in 1990 to 20% in 2020. (Financial Times)
  • Mid-2021, customers were waiting 20 weeks to one year for multiple kinds of semiconductors. By the end of 2022, those lead times will likely be closer to 10-20 weeks. (Deloitte Global)
  • As of 2020, only 12% of semiconductor chips were made in the United States. (CDW)
  • The auto industry makes up less than 9% of chip demand by revenue, and that figure is expected to increase by 10% per year until 2025. (IDC via IEEE Spectrum)
  • The semiconductor market has potential to reach overcapacity by 2023. (IDC)
  • Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC), the company that makes the majority of latest-generation chips for Apple products, has committed to increasing capacity by spending $100 billion across the next three years, and building new factories in Arizona and Japan. (Wall Street Journal)
  • 2021 chip revenues measured as a percentage of global GDP were 130% higher than they were 30 years ago. (Deloitte Global)
  • 81% of semiconductor contract manufacturing was based in Taiwan or South Korea in 2020 (Deloitte Global), but The United States passed a $52 billion dollar Chips for America Act in an effort to bring the manufacturing of microchips back to the United States. (Wall Street Journal)
  • Intel is investing over $20 billion to build two new chip factories in Ohio. (Intel)

Covid-19’s Impact on the Supply Chain Crisis

  • Following the outbreak of Covid-19, 93% of senior supply-chain executives reported their intent to make their supply chains more flexible, agile, and resilient. (McKinsey)
  • COVID-19 caused supply chain disruptions/delays for 38.8% of small businesses in the United States. (United States Census Bureau)
  • Prior to Covid-19, 45% of consumers never considered the supply chain when making purchases. Following the pandemic, 91% now do. (MarTech)

  • 77% of Americans reported that the Delta variant of Covid-19 increased their supply chain concerns. (Oracle)
  • 94% of Fortune 1000 companies saw supply chain disruptions as a result of Covid-19. (Accenture)
  • Following a March 2022 surge of Covid-19 in Shanghai, shipping company A.P. Moller-Maersk announced virus controls would result in a 30% decrease in trucking services. (Wall Street Journal)
  • 95% of supply chain executives report having a formal supply-chain risk-management process following Covid-19. (McKinsey)
  • Covid-19 resulted in shortages and stock-outs for 28% of retailers. (RetailNext, 2020)

How the War in Ukraine is Impacting the Supply Chain and Raw Material Prices

  • Interest in Canadian commodities demonstrates how the war in Ukraine is affecting global trade flow: Producers of Canadian oil and natural gas could raise production by 300,000 barrels a day, while Cameco (the country’s largest producer of uranium) has announced increased output at a northern Saskatchewan mine by 10 million pounds by 2024. (Wall Street Journal)
  • Ukraine supplies approximately 50% of the world’s neon gas. Since neon gas is used to produce semiconductor chips, both governments and businesses are seeing prices increase. (Harvard Business Review)
  • Crucial to creating catalytic convertors for cars, palladium has increased in price by 80% since the beginning of the conflict. (Deloitte)
  • Within a week of Russian troops crossing into Ukraine, the benchmark for thermal coal prices reached a record high of $446 per metric ton. (Wall Street Journal)
  • In addition to temporarily closing some of their assembly lines, both VW and BMW have been forced to lower output due to a shortage of wire harnesses because suppliers in Ukraine were pushed to stop production. (Automotive News Europe)
  • In response to the Ukraine invasion, Europe’s wholesale gas price surged by 69%. (Financial Times)
  • Due to the Ukrainian war and impending inflation, Apple plans to make approximately 20% less iPhone SEs than originally planned in the second quarter of 2022. (Nikkei Asia)
  • Natural gas prices in Europe and curbs on exports from Russia and China are expected to keep fertilizer in high demand through 2023, which will lower crop yields. (Supply Chain Dive)
  • Due to risks associated with global food security and the uncertainty surrounding potash (fertilizer potassium) production in Eastern Europe, Canadian potash company Nutrien Ltd is increasing production by over 10%, to 15 million metric tons. (Wall Street Journal)
  • Because Russia and Ukraine are leading exporters of grain, wheat futures in Chicago rose by almost 6% to $9.26 a bushel, the highest price since July 2012. (Financial Times)


Image source: Financial Times

 

Resources and Suppliers Tied to Ukraine and Russia

  • Worldwide, 374,000 businesses use Russian suppliers, with 90% of them based in the United States. (Forbes)
  • Over 90% of the United States’ semiconductor-grade neon is sourced from Ukraine. (Reuters)
  • At least 241,000 businesses use Ukrainian suppliers, with over 93% of them based in the United States. (Dun & Bradstreet)
  • Russia exports approximately 5 million barrels of crude oil per day – approximately 12% of global trade. (Wall Street Journal)
  • Approximately 29% of global wheat exports come from Ukraine and Russia. (Reuters)
  • Russia supplies almost 40% of the natural gas supply for Europe. (Fast Company)

Increased Prices Resulting from Shortages and Supply Chain Issues

  • The price of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), used to create a variety of items, including pipes, medical devices, and credit cards, has increased 70%. (PBS)
  • In 2022, cotton futures reached a decade high, with a premium that is 275 times more than January of 2021. (Bloomberg)
  • Despite a 36% year over year increase in 2021, it is expected there will be another 30% increase for the trucking industry in 2022. (Supply Chain Brain)
  • At the end of 2021, ocean freight rates were more than three times what they were throughout 2020. (Bloomberg)


Image source: Bloomberg

  • Surging natural gas prices in Europe pushed some producers to curtail aluminum production, resulting in more than 650,000 tons of lost production capacity since October 2021. (Supply Chain Dive)
  • Construction input prices are up 22.3% from 2020, with nonresidential construction prices up 23.2%. (Associated Builders and Contractors)
  • Aluminum prices rose to a record high of $3,449 per ton at the end of February, due to the Ukraine invasion. (Financial Times)

Increased Shipping Costs, Delays, and Transportation Issues

  • Imports from Asia to the United States increased by 40% from 2019 to 2021, while the volume of exports remained almost unchanged. This means carriers have not been able to fully utilize their capacity and meet the demand for container shipping, which is why freight rates are reaching record highs. (Statista)
  • Retailers like Amazon are chartering private cargo ships, making their own containers, and leasing planes to bypass supply chain disruptions like long wait times for dock space and workers. (CNBC)
  • At the Port of Long Beach (near Los Angeles), waiting time to discharge or pick up cargoes ranges from 38 to 45 days, with constraints expected to continue. (Famous Pacific Shipping Group)
  • In December 2022, The United States Department of Transportation awarded grants totaling over $241 million to support ports. (U.S. Department of Transportation)
  • Trucking costs increased by 36% year over year in 2021 due to bottlenecked materials, ports, and pandemic customer demand. (Supply Chain Brain)


Image source: Bloomberg

 

The increased Use – and Rate – of Airfreight

  • IATA data shows global demand for air cargo markets jumped 3.7% compared to November 2019, or a 4.2% increase for international operations. (Logistics Management)
  • Air cargo prices are now only six to eight times higher than ocean freight prices, while in a typical year, they would be 10 to 20 times higher. (Fast Radius)
  • Airfreight rates experienced a big growth curve in Q4 of 2021. Globally, December rates were 168% higher than December 2019 and 42% higher than December 2020. (The Load Star)


Image source: The Load Star

  • Air cargo carriers in North America posted an 11.4% increase in international cargo volumes in November 2021 compared to November 2019.

(Logistics Management)

  • In November 2021, global air freight traffic (measured in tonne-kilometres) saw a 3.7% year-on-year increase. (Upply)
  • Despite a fall in cargo volumes and November 2021 capacity levels that were almost stable, airfreight rates continued to increase in 2021, including a 9.1% increase on the Intra-Asia Corridor. (Upply)
  • At the beginning of February, South Carolina’s Port of Charleston had a line of 15 ships anchored nearby waiting to offload. The port estimated the bottleneck would take 6 weeks to clear. (Bloomberg)
  • Because European carriers experienced localized capacity restraints and congestion in the supply chain, international capacity was 9.9% lower in November 2021 than pre-crisis levels. (Logistics Management)

 

How to Overcome Shipping Challenges Contributing to Supply Chain Shortages: Video

Dealing with the Shipping Container Crisis

  • Global container demand is expected to grow by 2-4% in 2022. (Maersk)
  • New York Times analysis predicts the shipping container shortage will not resolve in 2022. (New York Times)
  • For every dollar of interest owed, container lines reached $12.86 of earnings before interest and tax (EBIT). (Journal of Commerce)
  • Demand container capacity is expected to exceed the actual capacity available through 2026. (Journal of Commerce)


Image source: Journal of Commerce

  • Of the shipping containers leaving the United States to go to Asia, 75% were empty in 2021. (Modugo)
  • To ensure optimal container use, Hapag-Lloyd, a global leader in container shipping, increased container refilling and emptying times to be 25% faster. (Ship Technology)
  • The 10 leading publicly listed container shipping lines are on track to earn a record $115 billion to $120 billion profit in 2021. (S&P Global)
  • Shipping times from China to the United States increased from 85 to 100 days due to the Delta variant. (Logistics Management)

How Labor Shortages Have Hurt the Supply Chain

  • The American Trucking Association (ATA) data shows that the industry could be short by over 140,000 drivers by 2026, increasing the driver shortage to over 160,000 drivers by 2030. (Trucking.org)
  • While millennials and Gen Z make up the majority of eligible candidates to fill open roles, they show an innate mistrust or misperception of the supply chain and manufacturing industry. (Forbes)
  • Unfilled jobs and a manufacturing skills gap are expected to cost the United States as much as $1 trillion by 2030. (Datex)
  • 2.1 million jobs critical to the supply chain and manufacturing industry will remain unfilled by 2030. (Forbes)

  • 47% of shippers and 73% of 3PLs report that finding, training, and retaining qualified labor is a top challenge. (Inbound Logistics)
  • 2021 experienced the most factory fires ever recorded in a single year. Resilinc sent out 1,946 factory fire alerts, marking a 129% YoY increase. The uptick’s been attributed to gaps in regulatory and process execution, and a shortage of skilled labor in warehouses. (Resilinc)
  • On the last day of December 2021, the number of job openings in the US was 10.9 million. The job openings rate was 6.8%. (Brookings)
  • The highest quit rates are in leisure and hospitality (6.4%), wholesale and retail trade (4.4%), professional and business services (3.7%), durable goods manufacturing (2.1%), and financial activities (1.7%). (US Chamber)
  • Even if every unemployed person with experience in the durable goods manufacturing industry were employed, only 65% of vacant jobs would be filled. (US Chamber)

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How Businesses and Supply Chain Professionals are Responding to the Crisis

  • 75% of procurement managers and Managing Directors from the EU and UK believe passing on increased raw material costs to customers is appropriate. (Consultancy UK).
  • Nearly 90% of senior supply-chain executives plan to pursue regionalization to some extent over the next three years. (McKinsey)
  • Retailers short on storage space are buying warehouses rather than waiting for supply chains to straighten out. (The Wall Street Journal)
  • In March of 2022, 18 businesses from supply chain segments (including private businesses, trucking, warehousing, ports, and logistics) joined the Freight Logistics Optimization Works (FLOW) initiative launched by the White House. (Forbes)
  • The perceived relevance of passing on costs to customers increased by 26 points throughout 2021. (Consultancy UK).
  • Over the past year, 59% of companies have implemented new supply chain risk management practices. (World Economic Forum)
  • Retailers are responding to the chicken shortage by increasing prices and, in some Australian stores, limiting purchases to two chicken breast items per customer. (ToolsGroup)
  • Because of supply chain disruptions, 55% of companies already have or plan to downgrade their growth outlooks. (Accenture)
  • To overcome supply chain challenges following Covid-19, 61% of companies increased inventory of critical products. (McKinsey)


Image source: McKinsey

Building Resilience in the Face of Supply Chain Challenges

Okay, so – we don’t dispute it, the supply chain is facing some challenges.

Even though supply chain struggles continue, every link within the chain continues to build and increase its resilience.

And, on a brighter note, according to Business Wire, the global supply chain management market is poised to reach $37.41 billion in 2027.

If you’re facing shortages, inflation, or delays, remember – you’re not alone. That’s why we compiled the top lessons learned by 11 industry professionals in overcoming supply chain challenges.

Get more tactics to be ready for anything with your free playbook: GAME ON: A Planner’s Playbook for Rapid Response to Supply Chain Disruption.

Get My FREE Playbook →

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