• Carbon friendly supply chains 

Supply chains will need to play their part in bringing carbon emissions down. This is especially important for Australia and New Zealand since we depend on trade. We face a big challenge and it is most likely that there will not be one big breakthrough that moves us toward our climate goals. It is likely to be hundreds of incremental steps that help us obtain the targets. We need to start now!

One issue is waste in the supply chain. As an example of how to mitigate waste, some kiwifruit can exhibit a temperature bounce once it enters the cool store. This fruit tends to ripen more quickly and can spoil or downgrade the fruit quality.

To overcome this problem PlantTech Research^[2] have developed algorithms that detect the bounce and built models that classify predicted causes, they could pinpoint where the impacts are likely to occur, i.e. mainly within the first few weeks in the cool store.

PlantTech were able to suggest cool store practices that minimise bounces occurring. The outcome was the first version of a temperature bounce detector.

All parts of the supply chain will have to incrementally improve their performance to meet climate change goals – something akin to a full court press. Innovation, such as the work undertaken by PlantTech, can assist in mitigating food waste – a small but significant part of that challenge in the supply chain.

• New trade routes 

Technology is driving new trade opportunities. One such opportunity is the Southern Link. The Southern Link is a potential trade route that joins Asia, Oceania, and South America. It is an extension of a global value chain that involves routing multi-modal freight and passengers between North Asia and South America via Oceania.

The critical trade is e-commerce. The speed at which e-commerce has become a major trade has been dramatic. Around the world, e-commerce platforms are taking advantage of a gap in the market and providing services that customers are flocking to so that they can buy a whole range of consumer products. E-platforms such as Shopee have only been in operation for five years, and now they are the leading operators in ASEAN and regions such as Taiwan and Hong Kong. They have also started operations in Brazil. This significant development underpins the growing links between South America and Asia.

The traditional routes for e-commerce fulfilment to South America from Asia are through the Middle East and Europe, and these routes will continue to dominate e-commerce traffic. What Oceania offers is an alternative supply route diversifying risk and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of e-commerce platforms.

We are traders with the world

Supply chains have responded well to the COVID curve ball, and we need to capitalise on their success. We need to keep plugging away since exports and imports are the lifeblood of both economies. Our exposure to the world means that products and services we produce need to be world competitive – “born global” to succeed. No more highly protected car industries or subsidies for this and that. Supply chains must reflect that we are “traders with the world”.  In many cases this is an incremental process which must be supported by the institutional settings set by governments, industry and society.