After Covid-19 and the future of supply chains

It has also exposed the inherent fragility, volatility, and opacity of supply chains. Covid-19 may be a Black Swan but it does not sit in isolation. Disruptive forces were in motion before the pandemic and will be in play in the post-Covid-19 era. The volatility and opacity it has exposed will remain long after the pandemic recedes.

The question is: how does one anticipate future volatility in this climate and can be learned from pre-Covid-19 times that can help planners and decision-makers now?

Taking a step back, we looked at price dynamics over the past 12 months in the metals and mining market.

What we found was that volatility was normal but not constant. Markets had underlying patterns but were also highly influenced by market events that had profound – sometimes short-lived and sometimes longer-term – impact on price and supply chain dynamics.

After the dense fog caused by Covid-19 begins to clear, you will need tools to see, understand and anticipate markets that will remain volatile and often opaque. Forces such as nationalistic and protectionist policies; the strategic desire to truly diversify; hyper-competition in the electric vehicle (EV) and battery spaces; the impact of intelligent automation; and the effect of climate change will return and continue to disrupt and shape supply chains.

Under the logic that one cannot solve what one cannot see, being blind to or trying to guess what will come next in the market will create unnecessary and untenable risk. The opposite is also true: those that see, understand and anticipate market dynamics, and those who can make decisions armed with trusted data, will be overwhelmingly advantaged.

We created The Future of Supply Chains in the Metal and Mining Markets to help you see beyond today’s headlines and see through today’s fog – to what is next.

Enjoy the read – then tell us what you think we got right and what we might have missed. How will you cope with the aftermath? Get prepared.