This week’s supply chain risk news
There’s only so much you can do to stop people from triple-parking their tractors
Since October, farmers in Mexico have been protesting—and sometimes blocking highways and railway lines. The protests are a push for more government support and higher prices for corn and sorghum amid soaring production costs.
These protests have at times included strikes backed by groups like the Agricultural and Peasant Movement (MAC). Blockades have closed toll plazas and caused miles-long traffic jams and days of port delays.
Although the Mexican government agreed earlier this month to a 25 percent increase in payments for corn, along with a new system to stabilize prices by early next year, farm groups announced another general strike for late November. As we discuss in our Risk Center, another key concern is a proposed law to prevent farmers from transferring water-use concessions. Some fear this could drive down the value of land lacking water rights.
The latest protests have affected more than a dozen Mexican states. Protestors have also blocked trucks on a bridge that links Mexico’s Ciudad Juarez with the U.S. city of El Paso.
On how transpacific shipping is about not just space but also time
There are just over six weeks on the calendar between New Year’s Day in 2026 and the start of the Lunar New Year holiday in February. That’s when people in places from China to Japan to South Korea to Vietnam traditionally take several days off work.
With this in mind, U.S. importers are currently trying to make decisions about purchase orders to factories in Asia, says Gene Seroka, the executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, through which many of those imports will eventually flow. Seroka expects the period from early January to mid-February to be busy:
“We’ll have about six weeks coming out of the traditional year-end holidays to ramp up cargo to move out before that all-important weeklong holiday where factories typically close down, and we’ll see a lot of folks going back to their hometowns to visit with family and friends,” he said in a recent news briefing.
Still, Seroka acknowledged that the crystal ball for investment decisions has been a little cloudier than usual this year. That’s because U.S. government data has been relatively scarce as a result of the record-long federal shutdown.
What’s a logistics risk management plan, and how do I develop one?
Your business depends on stuff getting from point A to point B. When logistical challenges arise on that journey, they may signal not just potential disruptions to manage but also opportunities, if you’re able to capitalize in time.
How well your organization meets such moments hinges on a logistics risk management plan. Such plans take time to develop; they require research, preparation, and sometimes changes. But they also make it possible for decision-makers to get the timely information they need to avoid delays, save cash, and beat the competition.
On our blog, we lay out the basic steps. This starts with documenting your existing supply chain logistics operations, then building out “what if” scenarios for different risks. Knowing when to kick the resulting plans into gear—and when it’s better to take a wait-and-see approach—takes a reliable flow of information. Whenever it’s time to act, a cascade of communications should ensure everyone has the best data to inform their execution.
Tracking how this process unfolds can later help refine your plans for next time. There’s always another potential challenge on the horizon, after all.
Other stories we’re reading and monitoring
Matcha, the trendy green powdered tea from Japan, remains in high demand and short supply. We’ve noted before that it will take a few years for new plants to mature for harvest. In the meantime, the market size is poised to grow by billions.
Tens of thousands of cattle operations have folded in the U.S. in the last few years. The U.S. national herd is at its lowest level since around 1950. As a result, Tyson foods is shuttering operations and laying off thousands in Nebraska. The company is also lowering production at another facility in Texas.
Numerous countries are stepping up modern slavery laws, as well as bans and enforcement. There’s a growing case that addressing forced labor isn’t just the right thing to do, but also a business necessity.
