Category: supply shortages

Food Prices Stuck Near Record Highs as Supply Woes Continue: UN Agency

Food prices remained elevated in April, barely easing from March’s record highs and posing challenges to food security amid ongoing market tightness, according to a UN agency. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said that its food price index, which tracks the most globally traded commodities, retreated by 1.2 points over…


Apple, Other Manufacturers Face Major Shipment Delays as CCP Quarantine Policies Squeeze Suppliers

Electronics giants like Apple, Dell, and Lenovo, will likely face serious shipping delays if the Chinese communist regime’s zero-tolerance COVID policies and subsequent lockdowns persist. The harsh restrictions are forcing manufacturers and suppliers to shut down, and closed loop arrangements become harder to maintain, analysts say. The CEOs of Huawei and XPeng are also warning…


Cocoa Bean Shortage Threatens Premium American Chocolatiers Ahead Of Easter

Li-Lac Chocolates, New York City’s oldest surviving high-end boutique chocolatier, discussed the impact of the pandemic and recent supply chain snarls on business in an interview with The Epoch Times, as millions of Americans get ready to buy candy for their families this Easter. Christopher Taylor, CFO of Li-Lac Chocolates, said that his company managed…


Sri Lankan Doctors Warn Death Toll Potentially ‘Worse’ Than COVID Amid Drugs Shortage

Sri Lanka’s death toll may be worse than that of the COVID-19 pandemic due to the severe drug shortages gripping the country, which is experiencing its worst economic crisis in decades, local doctors warned on April 10. The Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) claimed that doctors now have to choose which patients to treat as…


Cadence Design Systems Aims to Cash in on New Custom-Chip Era

Microchip design software maker Cadence Design Systems Inc is betting on growth from automakers and other chip users strapped by global supply shortages who face mounting competition from rivals such as Tesla Inc and Apple Inc that design their own chips. Cadence and rivals Synopsys Inc and Siemens EDA are at the center of a…


Australian Man Steals Over 40,000 Rapid Antigen Test Worsening Supply Issues

Australia’s COVID-19 rapid antigen test (RAT) supply problems have intensified after around 42,000 RATs were stolen from an Australian freight depot during a countrywide shortage. New South Wales (NSW) police were called to a Sydney depot on Tuesday, Jan. 18, after a man allegedly walked in and seized around 42,000 tests, worth more than $500,000 (US$360,000). A…


Target CEO Addresses Plans for Holiday Sales Season

Brian Cornell, the CEO of Target, spoke about the company’s plans for the 2021 holiday season in an exclusive Dec. 15 interview with The Associated Press. Cornell was optimistic after reports showed sales continuing to stay strong during the final stretch of the holiday season amid some worries about the new omicron variant. Target, one of the country’s…


Coca-Cola Third-Quarter Earnings Top Analysts’ Estimates, Promoting It to Increase Its Annual Outlook

Coca-Cola’s fiscal third-quarter earnings and sales exceeded Wall Street analysts’ estimates on Wednesday thanks to an improvement in its away-from-home channels such as restaurants, cafes, and cinemas, prompting it to increase its annual outlook again. In a press release, Chairman and CEO James Quincey said that Coca-Cola’s strategic transformation had allowed it to emerge from the pandemic as a stronger…


China’s Factory Gate Inflation Index Reaches Record High

China’s factory-gate inflation index, the PPI, rose 10.7 percent from a year earlier in September—the highest level on record—driven in part by soaring energy prices, and potentially adding to global inflation pressure. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday released the figure that measures price fluctuations of goods at the factory gate. China’s producer price index…


China’s Economy Shows Weakness Amid Outbreak and Supply Crisis

China’s factory output growth in August hit a 13-month low as COVID-19 delta variant surges in southeast China and the global supply shortage prolongs. The latest data released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Sept. 15 show a 5.3 percent rise in industrial production from last year, one percent lower compared to the…