Crypto News: Supply Lines: An upheaval, up close

A gas pipeline in Italy that's reversing its flow, bringing more trade through an ancient Roman port. A factory in India that wants to compete with China making electronics. A trucker in Mexico who fights traffic crossing into the US every day. A Namibian student who realizes her dream of going to university in London.

They're all isolated examples of the transformation that's reshaping the world economy. The cause of the upheaval: A series of rolling shocks — some self-imposed like Brexit or the US-China trade war, others exogenous like the pandemic and Russia's war in Ukraine — have forced companies and governments to prioritize the security of supply chains.

But traditional trade data are slow to capture the changes, which by most accounts reflect the early stages of a new, more cautious phase of globalization.

So Bloomberg Markets magazine deployed reporters around the world to visit ports, factories and worker training sites to show what's happening up close. (Click here to read today's Bloomberg Big Take and here to listen to the Big Take podcast.)

The number-crunching to chart the shifting contours of reglobalization is getting under way, too.

Bloomberg Economics has just published extensive research into what it's calling Globalization 1.1 — implying something still in its infancy rather than full-blown Globalization 2.0. (On the Bloomberg Terminal, click here to read the full Bloomberg Economics report.)

Among the key findings from Bloomberg economists Maeva Cousin and Tom Orlik:

China's sales of tariffed goods to the US are down $150 billion relative to the level that could have been expected without levies.
Some $160 billion in Russian imports and exports have shifted in line with geopolitical fault lines.
A $130 billion jump in greenfield investments in electronics shows attempts at nearshoring of semiconductor production.

Their conclusion: On one hand, worries about deglobalization might be overdone as most global trade flows continue unaffected. On the other, the realignment of global supply chains to hedge against new risks has only just begun.

—Brendan Murray in London

Battery bonanza | Chinese firms are lining up to invest in South Korea's battery industry because they want to use it as a gateway to the US market, undermining the Biden administration's efforts to limit China's involvement in the electric car supply chain. Over the past four months, Chinese companies and their Korean partners have announced some 5.1 trillion won ($4 billion) of investments in five new battery factories in Korea. And at least one local government is in talks for more projects, officials from the Saemangeum Development and Investment Agency say.

One of the most prominent names in US short-haul trucking is poised to fade away, leaving billions of dollars in business up for grabs in a weakened freight market.
China's manufacturing sector contracted in July, rippling through factories across Asia and signaling any turnaround in the region could still be far off.
An often impenetrable logjam of trucks laden with coal at South Africa's crossing with Mozambique has brought chaos to a sleepy border town. Meanwhile, state-owned rail companies from Botswana and South Africa are seeking funding for a 3 billion-pula ($230 million) railway line between the two countries to transport commodities including coal.
Mexico's economy grew more than expected in the second quarter as private consumption remains robust and the country benefits from strong exports to the US, its largest trading partner.
From transportation links to coal production, billionaire Gautam Adani built a vast infrastructure network across India that's become indispensable for both local businesses and foreign firms like Apple and Amazon.com.
Indonesian President Joko Widowo is trying to set his nation on course to become a global hub of electric vehicle production. That won't be an easy task.
Traders are poised to shell out more than $200,000 a day to ship liquefied natural gas in the coming months as tankers grow scarce ahead of winter, when demand for the heating fuel peaks.

Spot North American truckload rates may climb soon as inventories normalize and seasonal demand returns, but the contract-rate outlook is not so optimistic, Bloomberg Intelligence says.
Air-freight rates are still 35% above their pre-pandemic averages of 2018-19, but Bloomberg Intelligence expects them to decline toward historical averages as more international belly capacity comes back against tepid economic activity and as more shippers trade down to ocean.
Run SPLC after an equity ticker on Bloomberg to show critical data about a company's suppliers, customers and peers.
Use the AHOY function to track global commodities trade flows.
Click HERE for automated stories about supply chains.
On the Bloomberg Terminal, type NH FWV for FreightWaves content.
See BNEF for BloombergNEF's analysis of clean energy, advanced transport, digital industry, innovative materials, and commodities.

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