The choice is stark for most suppliers: absorb the extra cost, pass them on to customers or find ways to slash material costs.

In the nearly 40 years she has spent in trade, Amy Magnus has never seen retailers hoarding so much inventory.

China, dubbed ‘the workshop of the world’ for its sprawling supply chains and huge export capacity, is hoping to manufacture something new this week at a huge trade fair in Shanghai: import orders.

Retail giant Carrefour SA has adopted blockchain ledger technology to track and trace chicken, eggs and tomatoes as they travel from farms to stores.

Anglo-Dutch giant Unilever topped a new list ranking how well food and drink companies tackle the risk of forced labor in their supply chains, ahead of Kellogg Company and Coca-Cola.