Shortages, price-hikes, supply disruptions and their impacts on the every day.....

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The pandemic taught us much about JIT supply chains, the interconnectedness of things and events, the issues of global trade vs. localisation etc. If James Burke could remake 'Connections' he'd have a field day.
War in Ukraine has thrown-up a lot of other unpleasant trade scenarios. We're all familiar with the biggies of Oil and Gas of course, but as sanctions and the trade war progresses more issues are crawling from the woodwork. Precious metals from Russia for steel and automotive production etc.

In my own world of big-food we see shortages of phosphates from Ukraine and other minor ingredients, however the biggie will be wheat. Ukraine is often called the 'Bread Basket of Europe' There will be no crop sown this year and I'm assuming that Russian wheat will be persona-non-grata for most of Europe and the west. That makes for hell of a shortage. Climate change may also diminish yields in other regions. Price is already rocketing and big-co's will already have secured volumes from there prime suppliers.
Wheat is such a basic commodity for so many in the world (N. Africa is already short of bread - their staple food), at what point will we give-up eating cake so that others may eat bread? At what point will I find putting breadcrumbs on bits of chicken morally reprehensible (OK, many already think that). There's also grain for cattle-feed so we can all have a nice steak.
Wheat shortages will also lead to demands on other crops to fill some of the gaps - maize, Soya, barley, rice etc. leading to further shortages.

EDIT: Fertiliser shortages willalso impact crop yields further, to add insult to injury....

That's a bit about my area of operation, but am certain other NACA's will be seeing difficulties in their own personal and professional spheres....
Here's the place to write about them.
 
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icowden

Legendary Member
Don't worry, I'm sure George "Eustice" Useless will be all over it...
 

winjim

Welcome yourself into the new modern crisis
I know there are a few speciality chemicals which we get from Russia. I don't know if they're embargoed or whether sanctions etc mean production will shut down but although I can't think of any examples off the top of my head it's probably stuff we only order in mg quantities once in a blue moon. Problems will depend on how much Merck has warehoused in Germany I should think.

An interesting effect of the banking crisis in 2007 was that there was a global shortage of acetonitrile, a common solvent used in analytical chemistry. This was because there are no plants which actually produce it, it's purely a byproduct of other industrial processes. So as for example the automotive industry shut down, you couldn't get hold of it and there was a mad scramble to revalidate methods using alternative solvents, or to install mobile phase recyclers and the like. We're back to business as usual now but it shows the interconnectedness of different sectors.

So, the healthcare sector depends on the automotive industry to function. Whodathunk?
 

mudsticks

Squire
The pandemic taught us much about JIT supply chains, the interconnectedness of things and events, the issues of global trade vs. localisation etc. If James Burke could remake 'Connections' he'd have a field day.
War in Ukraine has thrown-up a lot of other unpleasant trade scenarios. We're all familiar with the biggies of Oil and Gas of course, but as sanctions and the trade war progresses more issues are crawling from the woodwork. Precious metals from Russia for steel and automotive production etc.

In my own world of big-food we see shortages of phosphates from Ukraine and other minor ingredients, however the biggie will be wheat. Ukraine is often called the 'Bread Basket of Europe' There will be no crop sown this year and I'm assuming that Russian wheat will be persona-non-grata for most of Europe and the west. That makes for hell of a shortage. Climate change may also diminish yields in other regions. Price is already rocketing and big-co's will already have secured volumes from there prime suppliers.
Wheat is such a basic commodity for so many in the world (N. Africa is already short of bread - their staple food), at what point will we give-up eating cake so that others may eat bread? At what point will I find putting breadcrumbs on bits of chicken morally reprehensible (OK, many already think that). There's also grain for cattle-feed so we can all have a nice steak.
Wheat shortages will also lead to demands on other crops to fill some of the gaps - maize, Soya, barley, rice etc. leading to further shortages.

EDIT: Fertiliser shortages willalso impact crop yields further, to add insult to injury....

That's a bit about my area of operation, but am certain other NACA's will be seeing difficulties in their own personal and professional spheres....
Here's the place to write about them.

Personally I think it's the fault of all these 'woke' lefty farmers with their silly ideas about regenerative soil building techniques, who don't buy in fertilisers, and who will insist on selling only through local food webs rather than into the long chain supply system..

It's definitely their fault..

So,
Pestilence? Check.
War? Check.
Famine? Check.
What was next? Lesbian Period Drama, wasn't it?

Or else yes it's the lesbians..

Actually probs both..
 

icowden

Legendary Member
So,
Pestilence? Check.
War? Check.
Famine? Check.
What was next? Lesbian Period Drama, wasn't it?
There was a nice cartoon in Private eye of the 4 horsemen. The caption was "Pestillence is exhausted - War - do you want to have a go?"
 
D

Deleted member 28

Guest
Banks's Mild might go up a bit I suppose?
 
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