President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) Timothy Tucker says that the global supply chain issues and delays in shipping are beyond their control and as a result businesses are now adapting to the changes.
Tucker made this statement during a brief telephone interview with Stabroek News on Friday.
The GCCI held its Council meeting on Thursday where the issue was discussed.
“We discussed the issue during our meeting but there wasn’t much input in it. We agreed and recognised that it is beyond our control and we are trying to deal with it. We realized that it is a problem all over the world so we are now adapting,” he explained.
The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) is primarily responsible for the global supply chain issues and significant delays at major shipping ports worldwide. The pandemic brought manufacturing to a halt and now that countries are getting back to some state of normalcy, the demand for goods is skyrocketing.
Tucker, during a previous interview, had warned that there will be significant shortages and even unavailability of items leading into the Christmas season and the first quarter of 2022.
“It has been identified that there are going to be issues and shortages. Some of our manufacturers are having issues with raw material supplies based on backorder shipping. So there is definitely going to be at least a slowdown and unavailability of some items heading into the Christmas season and at least into the first quarter of next year,” he had said.
Global experts have predicted that shipping woes are expected to run until mid-2022 resulting in increased shortages and even more inflation. In Guyana, consumers have been seeing the effects of the supply chain issues with steep increases in the price of goods.
On Thursday, World Trade Organization’s Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said that the global supply chain problems are expected to be short-lived.
“Our assessment of this situation is it is not a structural issue. It’s a transitory issue,” she was quoted as saying in an Economic Times report.
Additionally, the WTO has said that the strong rebound in global trade and the increased demand for consumer durable goods have put the global shipping system under stress. In particular, a sustained surge in demand for shipping containers from East Asia combined with no slack capacity in container ships has sharply increased shipping costs.
On that note, Tucker had told this newspaper that they are seeking to have an extension of the relief measures the government implemented back in August. Government had announced the reverting of freight charges to pre-pandemic levels for the purposes of the calculation of duties and taxes on goods imported and sold locally, thereby relieving consumers of higher prices that have been passed on due to higher shipping costs. That arrangement is effective on all invoices dated August 1 and continues in effect until January 31, 2022.
