Valencia - 20.1.2021. This morning, the Institute of International Economics of the University of Valencia held an online seminar entitled "Global vs. regional supply chains as a result of the pandemic. Its relevance for the industrial sectors of the Valencian Community",
During this seminar, the members of the IEI-UVEG and IEI-UJI team presented the results of the research carried out on this issue during the first year of the Chair:
During her presentation, Alicia Enríquez presented the debate that COVID-19 has reopened regarding the risks and implications of global supply chains, summarising all the issues that may affect or surround them and drawing the main conclusions, both on the impact of COVID-19 on supply chains and on the lessons learned to date and the possible strategies for overcoming the limitations presented by pre-COVID chains.
Leandro García and Celestino Suárez then presented the case studies of three sectors that are highly representative of the productive structure of the Valencian Community and that present clearly differentiated logistical patterns: the ceramic sector in Castellón -a sector that produces for stock with a traditional logistical performance-, the automotive components industry in Valencia -with a JiT logistical model- and the toy sector in Alicante -a sector of very high complexity, that participates in a tense flow and with a long history concerning delocalisation processes-.
María Feo's intervention was focused on the index that was developed with the aim of approximating the vulnerability of the supply chains under study from a logistical point of view. Finally, Vicente Pallardó closed the day by contributing a macroeconomic perspective to the debate, delving deeper into the factors that explain the slowdown in international trade and the processes of relocation in the past decade and advancing the reasons why a generalised rehoring towards the West is highly improbable.
