Weekend Roundup: News Across the World Affecting the Global Supply Chain

The news that makes the headline this week is the interest rate hike from Bank of England (BOE). The BOE raised their interest rate for the first time in ten years to 0.50 percent from 0.25 percent. The central bank has announced that it expected only “very gradual” further increases till 2020. In terms of its impact, the existing mortgage rates will rise immediately concerning millions of households. Banks giving out fixed-rate deals will take a hit on their profit. However, homeowners opting for a tracker deal will see a slight increase in monthly repayment amount. The interest rate hike would certainly impact the supply chain dynamics in the real-estate market.

Top Stories on Global Supply Chain and Logistics This Week

Tesla Model 3 Production Delay

With the release of its third quarter financial results, Tesla gave an update on the production status of the Model 3, citing that certain bottlenecks have caused them to delay the expected 5,000 units per week production rate to late Q1 2018. One of the biggest procurement and supply chain challenge for them has been with its battery module assembly line at the Gigafactory. Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, pointed out that the production of Model 3 is fully automated as compared to its predecessors which is causing difficulty to bring such level of automation on-line.

Demand for iPhone X Exceeds its Supply

According to Nikkei report, Apple is likely only to ship 20 million units of its iPhone X in 2017, which is half of the original production schedule planned. The report also states that Apple is struggling to solve technical issues with components that support its new face authentication feature. Additionally, they have already started negotiations with alternate suppliers to make the part. Although Apple has already rolled out the pre-order registrations, a source within UK site TechRadar expresses that it will be until January or February before there is enough stock to go around.

Boycotting Chinese Products in India

After affiliates of Indian Prime Minister’s party started pushing for a boycott of Chinese goods, there has been a backlash against Chinese goods and people starting to promote homemade products. This movement has gained prominence amid India’s growing trade deficit with China, which stood at US$49 billion in the year 2016. The movement gained momentum when Swadeshi Jagran Manch, an economic policy group linked with Bharatiya Janata Party, bought about 100,000 protestors onto the streets of New Delhi on Oct. 29 in a rally to end the dominance of Chinese products. Some demonstrators held Indian flags and a poster of the Chinese President with a cross mark in it. However, Indian manufacturers are still struggling to compete with Chinese products, as some Indian products cost twice as much as Chinese goods even after factoring in customs, taxes, and transportation costs.

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