A shortage of containers used in international shipping in recent months has caused Asia's food sector to face delays and sales suspensions.
For example, the Japanese fast food restaurant chain Mos Burger, operated by Mos Food Services, has suspended the sale of french fries from February 10, 2022. The company expects the potato shortage to affect 1256 outlets by mid-March.
McDonald's Holdings Japan had faced the same problems earlier, restaurants of this chain were only able to resume selling packages of medium and large fries on February 7, after a break that lasted several weeks. McDonald's said deliveries were cut due to bad weather, flooding in Canada and a shortage of containers, all of which caused disruptions to the key port of Vancouver.
A spokesperson for the company told the Nikkei: "We have been able to secure the supplies that keep us going, but the issues have not been fully resolved and port delays will continue to be unpredictable." Tamotsu Hiro, president and CEO of McDonald's Japan, confirmed that "the situation with the purchase of potatoes cannot be called optimistic."
But Japan is not the only country experiencing problems with the supply of potatoes.
McDonald's restaurants in Malaysia and Indonesia are also battling to be able to sell French fries at the same rate. “We are facing a reduction in the supply of french fries,” McDonald’s Malaysia said in a January 24 statement, “for this reason, we are stopping the sale of large portions of french fries.” McDonald's Indonesia is taking similar action: on January 31, a post appeared on the company's Twitter page that restaurants will only be able to offer customers small and medium portions of french fries for the time being.
Nobuko Kobayashi, a partner at consulting firm EY Japan, stressed that the container crisis needs to be resolved before the supply-demand imbalance can ease, but it's hard to predict when that will happen. “It is highly dependent on the omicron and any waves after the omicron – volatility could continue until the second half of 2022,” the expert said.
Kobayashi also noted that companies should get used to the disruptions caused by the pandemic and geopolitical tensions and prepare for these challenges. “Companies should review their procurement operations to reduce the risk of such disruptions. One direction is to shorten the supply chain so that it is regionalized in Asia for Japan [for example]. Another direction is vertical reintegration so that companies do not rely on external sources for critical resources.”