A new way to measure supply chain issues
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The coronavirus pandemic has many hallmarks: long lines to get tested, virtual work meetings, bare shelves, and shipping delays. Earlier this year, economists at the Federal Reserve of New York created a method to understand pressures on the supply chain both now and pre-pandemic. This Global Supply Chain Pressures index measures transportation costs, how long it takes for goods to arrive, the time it takes to fulfill an order, and how much inventory businesses have on hand. Here's some of what this index reveals:
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- Before the pandemic, the index's value rarely moved above 1. Then in early 2020, it jumped to 3.2 after China imposed lockdown measures. It dipped and rose over the next year, eventually hitting a record high of 4.4 in October 2021. The index was at 4.2 by the end of last year.
- Americans' spending on services returned to pre-pandemic levels by the second quarter of 2021, while durable goods spending rose 25.4% from the end of 2019 to the end of 2021. Nondurable goods purchases rose 12.2%. The rise in demand meant more work for the supply chain when it was already under stress from the pandemic.
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- The pandemic also lengthened the amount of time cargo ships wait at port. The Port of Los Angeles, the busiest seaport in the Western Hemisphere, had fewer than two ships on average waiting at anchor (meaning they were within 40 miles of the port) before the pandemic. In October 2021, an average of 33 ships waited at anchor.
Learn more about the supply chain with this new article, including how trucking delays exacerbated shipping problems and how Americans have been spending during the pandemic.
How Russia's war could affect the US
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has a global impact. Some of the world's largest companies changed where and how they do business in response to the war. People are paying more at the pump. And many nations, including the US, are sending Ukraine humanitarian and military aid. USAFacts tracked the financial and military facts related to this conflict to understand how it could affect the US.
- More than 12,000 American troops were deployed to a US military base in Germany on February 24. About 2,000 US troops in Europe moved to Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, and Romania to support the NATO response force in case of a Russian attack on a NATO member.
- Various Defense Department estimates show that between 80,000 and 90,000 US service members currently operate in Europe — up about 23% from September 2021.
- Of the $29.6 billion in Russian goods the US imported last year, $17.6 billion were in mineral fuels, a broad category including coal, petroleum, and natural gas. Russian mineral fuel imports are about 8% of all mineral fuel imports to the US. On March 8, the US banned imports of Russian oil, liquified natural gas, and coal.
For more, see this article.
One last fact
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Gas prices were more than $4 per gallon nationwide as of March 14.
These regions are delineated by the Energy Information Administration. The East Coast can be broken down into more specific regions: New England ($4.30 per gallon), central Atlantic states ($4.35), and lower Atlantic states ($4.21).
What are the gas prices where you live? Join the conversation on Instagram.
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