Ukraine crisis: The impact on global supply chains

After being battered by Covid, the global supply chain has been put under more pressure by Russia’s invasion.

Women and children who said they fled from nearby Yavoriv in Ukraine stock up on donated food. It comes as the Ukraine crisis compounds existing global supply chain issues. Picture: Sean Gallup

The global pandemic has highlighted a “lack of resilience” across the world’s supply chains, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine making things worse.

That’s the view of Institute of Integrated Economics Research chair John Blackburn, who says the Covid-triggered economic crisis will be exacerbated by ongoing conflict.

Speaking at a Victorian Farmers Federation webinar last week, retired Air Vice-Marshal Mr Blackburn said the conflict had highlighted the risk to the global food supply and weaknesses in Australia’s agricultural supply chain.

Mr Blackburn said farm inputs such as fertilisers, farming machinery, vehicles and chemicals were heavily reliant on imports.

Former Air Vice Marshal John Blackburn speaks at the Safeskies 2007 conference in Canberra.

“We need to identify in each of these areas what capacity we need to have in our country, to allow us to manage a major crisis like we’re facing now in the world,” Mr Blackburn said.

Mr Blackburn said the National Resilience Project, run by the Institute for Integrated Economic Research, considered Australia’s resilience in the face of a changing world, with supply chain instabilities proving “a real warning sign” for Australia.

“ … our reactions are too little too late, and often shortsighted,” Mr Blackburn said.