As China begins to reopen after the Lunar New Year, our Managing Director Asia, Dean Jones, spoke to BBC’s Asia Business Report about what the impact will be on our recovering supply chains.

Highlighting that the overall impact would be both positive, and quick to realise, Dean highlighted the impact of shorter-term challenges, like labour shortages, while demand for product continues to rise. As in many markets, this creates a hurdle and China will see this at an amplified level. Dean is, however, confident that supply chains will begin to ease relatively quickly and become more predictable.

Dean also highlighted the ‘forever fragile’ nature of supply chains. So, while there are labour and demand pressures now, there will be other challenges in the future that you need to be ready to handle. He emphasised that industry players today can best navigate this by focusing on ensuring the sustainability – not only from an ESG perspective but more broadly – and robustness of supply chains.

The greatest benefit for Supply Chain professionals as China opens back up from a lockdown spanning three years? According to Dean, there will be greater predictability, “and that’s great for everybody.”

If you want to understand more about how to ensure your Supply Chain’s robustness, click here.