The UN has launched a toolkit to help procurement professionals close the international gender gap by supporting women-owned businesses.

The supply chain profession is largely white male and lacking in ethnic and gender diversity, according to a report.

Full supply chain visibility has risen from companies' sixth most important strategic priority in 2015 to third in 2017, according to a recent GEODIS global supply chain survey. Still, just 6 percent of firms said they had achieved this aim.

Cargo theft in the Americas and terrorist activity in Europe were the main risk factors facing global supply chains in 2016, according to a major annual study.