Supply chain compliance officers and chief risk officers will want to check out a new index revealing a sharp decline in manufacturing imports from China and other dramatic shifts in the supply-chain risk landscape, a trend that will only continue due to the coronavirus.
The seventh annual Reshoring Index, published by global consulting firm Kearney, revealed that domestic U.S. manufacturing increased considerably in 2019, while the 14 Asian low-cost countries (LCCs) tracked by Kearney sharply declined, particularly as it applies to manufacturing imports from China. Specifically, U.S. imports of manufactured goods from the LCCs fell from $816 billion in 2018 to $757 billion in 2019—a 7.2 percent decrease—while U.S. domestic gross output of manufactured goods hovered at 2018 levels, reaching nearly $6.3 billion in 2019. The report noted that this finding marks a “dramatic reversal of a five-year trend.”
