Retailers are beginning to suspend, or cancel outright, orders from their Asian factories and other suppliers. So far, it’s intended to be temporary; for example:
Ulrika Isaksson, an H&M spokeswoman, said “our long-term commitment to suppliers will remain intact, but in this extreme situation we need to respond fast.”
The suspensions and cancelations might—might—seem warranted regarding Asian suppliers, but the temporary nature of them, to the extent they’re warranted at all, should be limited to South and East Asia—in the main, Vietnam, Republic of Korea, and Japan.
The cancelations need to be made permanent regarding the People’s Republic of China, given that government’s dishonesty and its companies’ well-known poor quality control—the latest example of which is directly related to the PRC’s role in the Wuhan Virus’ global spread and that nation’s pretended claim to be aiding in the world’s recovery:
…Beijing sent 150,000 coronavirus rapid testing kits to [the Czech Republic] which return false results up to 80% of the time.
PRC producers just can’t be trusted; retailers, and all other producers, need to adjust their supply chains to originate somewhere else than in the People’s Republic of China. Permanently.
https://twitter.com/man_integrated/status/1241081868700745729
Huntsman is a pro logistician. He does long threads, but they are usually worth following.