Dietary Supplement Supply Chain Update: Prepare for a bumpy road.
The supply chain continues to worsen, not just in the dietary supplement industry but in all industries. New forklifts are 39 weeks out. The company contracted to fit out my new warehouse could not provide pallet racking and pulled out of the deal. I went to buy a bicycle for the summer, but there wasn’t a bike in the store. Specialized brand bikes were being quoted at 12 months out. A friend who owns a body shop has customers’ cars sitting in his lot for 4 months because of a shortage of parts. Another friend with a large fastener company usually receives 40 containers in a month but now only 2-3.
Every business owner I speak with tells me the same story. I find it strange that I rarely see anything mentioned in the news and can’t understand why. The problem is so widespread you would think it would make daily headlines, but the media barely whispers it. If the supply chain doesn’t correct itself soon, our economy is in for rocky times.
I realize this sounds like a conspiracy theory, but mark my words the shit will hit the fan soon. The dietary supplement industry just survived COVID. Sports supplement brands were hit the hardest with gyms closed and people on lock down, but we made it through. My gut feeling is what lies ahead will be much worse on us.
We are too reliant on China for raw ingredients and they are in the midst of a mess right now. They claim COVID is not affecting them but no one who imports from China believes that, we hear of all the factory closings, we know the truth. Their energy shortage is catching up with them and the Olympics is coming. Remember what happened prior to the last Olympics hosted in China. They closed down thousands of factories in a last ditch effort to improve their air quality.
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