Disruption, Digitisation, Resilience

11 DISRUPTION, DIGITISATION, RESILIENCE : The future of Asia-Pacific supply chains Through early 2020, as country after country started witnessing a spike in the number of covid infections, several governments tightened the exports of masks and medical equipment, 6 and raw materials used in pharma production. 7 Access to raw materials and primary input was a key source of disruption in sectors such as food and beverage, and healthcare and pharmaceuticals. Mr Jelev says that “during some of the more severe lockdowns last year, we saw countries using export restrictions very aggressively—for instance, in India and China. This year we have seen similar measures mainly specific to vaccines, with the EU and US restricting both consumables for vaccine manufacturing, as well as the export of finished vaccines.” According to him, the biggest issue for vaccine manufacturers is the shortage of raw materials and consumables related to vaccine manufacturing. The focus on vaccines, in turn, could result in impacts on the supply of other consumables used for other healthcare products over the next year or so. 6 OECD. The face mask global value chain in the COVID-19 outbreak: Evidence and policy lessons . 4 May 2020. Available online at https://www.oecd.org/ coronavirus/policy-responses/the-face-mask-global-value-chain-in-the-COVID-19-outbreak-evidence-and-policy-lessons-a4df866d/#section-d1e338 7 “API Supply: COVID-19 Industry Update.” Contract Pharma . 5 March 2020. Available online at https://www.contractpharma.com/contents/view_Content- microsite/2020-03-05/api-supply-covid-19-industry-update-506334/