Crypto News: Supply Lines: Reshoring talk vs action

Executives in the US have been using the buzzwords onshoring, reshoring or nearshoring at a greater clip this year than they did in the first six months of the pandemic.

That's according to a Bloomberg review of earnings call and conference presentations. More importantly, there are concrete signs that many of them are going beyond just talk and acting on these plans. (Click here for the full story from Bloomberg industrials reporter Ryan Beene.)

The construction of new manufacturing facilities in the US has soared 116% over the past year, dwarfing the 10% gain on all building projects combined, according to Dodge Construction Network.

There are massive chip factories going up in Phoenix. Intel is building two just outside the city. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing is constructing one in it.

And aluminum and steel plants that are being erected across the south, including in Bay Minette, Alabama (Novelis); Osceola, Arkansas (US Steel); in Brandenburg, Kentucky (Nucor).

Near Buffalo, New York, all this new semiconductor and steel output is fueling orders for air compressors that will be cranked out at an Ingersoll Rand plant that had been shuttered for years.

Scores of smaller companies are making similar moves, according to Richard Branch, the chief economist at Dodge. Not all are examples of reshoring. Some are designed to expand capacity.

But they all point to the same thing — a major re-assessment of supply chains in the wake of port bottlenecks, parts shortages and skyrocketing shipping costs that have wreaked havoc on corporate budgets in the US and across the globe.

—Brendan Murray in London

Tide Is Turning | An indicator of US supply-chain pressure fell to the lowest level in two years, as a sharp drop in transportation costs underscores the slowdown in the nation's economy heading into the second half of year. The Logistics Managers' Index declined to 65 in June, the third straight fall from a record of 76.2 reached in March and the lowest level since July 2020, the monthly report released Tuesday showed. It was the first time since mid-2020 that the reading came in below the all-time average, currently at 65.3. (Click here for more.)

Little relief | A move by President Joe Biden to end tariffs on Chinese consumer goods will do little to dent inflation, economists say, and risks further hamstringing Democratic candidates in political battlegrounds.
New surcharges | Walmart is hitting some suppliers with two new charges as it struggles to soften the blow of surging transportation costs.
Going on strike | Each wave of supply shock to hit the global economy during the pandemic seems to produce a different scapegoat. With the second half of 2022 just underway, there may yet be another culprit for supply stress — labor unrest.
Going Dutch | The US is pushing the Netherlands to ban ASML from selling to China mainstream technology essential in making a large chunk of the world's chips, expanding its campaign to curb the country's rise.
Inventories double | A hunt by Europe's coal consumers to replace Russian cargoes with shipments from across the globe has boosted imports to the key Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam hub by more than a third, helping to fill severely depleted stockpiles.
Going national | The UK train drivers' union said it's likely to coordinate any strikes resulting from a ballot across multiple companies, aiming for maximum disruption to the railway amid disputes over pay.
Ale to the chief | The CEOs of major beer makers are asking US President Joe Biden to suspend aluminum tariffs that have cost the industry more than $1.4 billion since 2018.

Survival hope | Democrats have multiple paths to pass legislation that would provide a $52 billion package of incentives for US semiconductor manufacturing despite a Republican threat to sabotage the bill, Bloomberg Government says.
Looser conditions | North American spot-trucking market relative demand decreased 9.7% sequentially in the week ended July 1, based on Truckstop.com's Market Demand Index as available trucks jumped almost 20%, outstripping the increase in available loads, Bloomberg Intelligence says.
Use the AHOY function to track global commodities trade flows.
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