girl with balloon sold earlier. ♪ these are the top stories. the worst street violence in more than a decade weaving six people dead and dozens injured. protesters were targeted by unidentified snipers position in buildings. the president has addressed the nation to condemn the violence. >> we will never allow anyone to -- what has happened today, the

investigation will reach the reality of the truth and the facts and the perpetrators will be taken to court. the investigation of the beirut court last will continue because it is a commitment to the lebanese people and the international community. >> a taliban delegation is in turkey as it continues a diplomatic push for international support, adapter talks in qatar when a group appealed to european and u.s. officials to end afghanistan's isolation. the first african leader to visit the white house since joe biden took office. he is facing scrutiny for his offshore holdings revealed in the so-called pandora papers. authorities are investigating whether fire that killed at least 46 people was started deliberately. others -- dozens of others were

injured in the blaze. george's opposition has held a rally in the capital to protest against the imprisonment of the former president. the government says he entered the country illegally from exile. he now faces six years in prison on allegations of abuse of power while in office. he has been on a hunger strike for 14 days. those are the headlines. the news will continue in about a half-hour, after "inside story." . ♪ >> many products are in short

supply around the world. while all this mean higher prices for us all? this is "inside story." ♪ >> welcome to the program. as apply chain crisis is threatening to derail the world's economic recovery in the pandemic. smart phones, toys, clothing, and even christmas turkeys are among many items not reaching consumers. analysts are blaming what they call the perfect storm. dozens of cargo ships are stuck off the coast of southern california in the u.s., waiting to unload containers at ports in los angeles and long beach that handle almost half of america's imports. the backlog is pushing up prices. empty shelves ahead of

thanksgiving and christmas. u.s. president joe biden said the port will now work 24 hours a day, seven days a week. deliver companies and major retailers are also working overtime. pres. biden: this is an across-the-board commitment to going 24/7. now we need the rest of the private sector chained to step up as well. our goal is not only to get through this immediate bottleneck but to address the long-standing issues in our supply chain that this pandemic has exposed. >> the problem is that main focus of the meeting of g7 finance ministers washington on wednesday. britain said they will agree to work constructively toward a solution. u.k. supply problems are compounded by brexit and a shortage of truck divers. cargo ships have been diverted from britain's biggest port. >> we see this issue actually in

all major european ports, but also imports across the world, in the u.s., and china, there are disruptions due to the pandemic. china, which is basically the factory of the world, stood still for a couple of weeks, and then they started production again. that created a backlog and created the disruption. in the meantime, there have been other global disruptions such as in the suez canal and brexit. >> several provinces are suffering from power cuts and electricity rationing. the price of commodities has gone up. a major index measuring the cost of goods to wholesalers rose by 10.7% last month. the fastest jump in 26 years. >> let's bring in our guest in

newcastle, assistant professor in supply chain management. in china, a chief economist and plymouth, a lecturer in maritime economics. welcome to the program. let's begin in newcastle first. as i understand, the most simple way of describing the global supply chain is the fact that it works on this kind of last-minute principle. the idea is that with all the supply chain working at once, everything gets to the shops and stores just in time, nothing is stockpiled, and for decades, that system has worked for the most part. but now with the pandemic and with brexit and a shortage of workers, that last-minute principle has been really tested. is it still working, and is it

still the best way? >> i think it works in certain settings and doesn't work in other settings. it's really hard to distinguish between the two. it has benefits and has evidence saying it's a good quality, no cost method of delivery. however, a lot of organizations have done it to achieve a low-cost, low inventory benefit. we find that how reliant we are, the borders are not as frictionless as we would like them to be. these vulnerabilities get

exposed and then we find out the problems with the system and we need a more energized system than this. >> is it simply that actually we just have to deal with these problems when they occur because they don't occur that often, and this is a one-off event, as it were, the pandemic, brexit, supply worker shortage, that kind of thing. is it just the cost of doing business? >> i do think it has a lot to do with covid and how different governments deal with covid. the reason why china -- the government has strong control over it pandemic spread. if you look at most of the governments in the world, they have already become very flexible in what people and workers can do and that has disrupted a lot of the production process. on top of that, shipping costs

have been extremely high and it doesn't look like it will come down anytime soon. this has to do with a power shortage in china. so i think this problem will continue at least until the end of next year. >> isn't it simply the cost of doing business? you just have to adapt and things like this happen. >> i believe so. an event like this is highly unpredictable. nobody knew that there would be a supply chain disruption of this scale. when people look at the post-covid situation last march, all of a sudden every country was in shortage of masks and medical devices. but people respond and factories responded very differently. we have seen that china motivated a lot of its domestic manufacturers and effectively solved the problem within a few months. host economies do not have such industrial foundation so they have to bear the cost of waiting

and eventually importing masks from countries like china. >> this is the only system we've got, it's a system that does well but sometimes breaks down, but this is the only system we have. >> it is a reliable system. we are seeing disruptions at the moment, and it makes sense. we have 60 trillion dollars that customers want to spend and that money was saved during the pandemic from people not going out to eat and all the other social activities people normally have. so we have an increasing demand of 6.5% compared to 2020. if you compare it with 2019, that is bringing a demand of

3.5%. so in 2021 we have 10.5% more demand, and we have lack of containers, a lot of disruption to the overall system with a lack of truck drivers in the u.k. and all over the globe. that is causing us more problems and we really have to deal with that. >> the business sector is dealing with it, right? >> i do agree that it is a once-in-a-lifetime event, some people are even calling it a black swan event. but i'm of the opinion that we've had -- we have seen disruptions in 2011 and before,

every time this occurs, we try to deal with a solution. for example, covid. i think it is a global problem, supply chains are global, however, covid has forced governments to look a lot more inwards and they are trying to do with the covid situation more locally. we have to prepare -- prepare for any such future events. we need to suit -- to rethink the supply chain strategy, yes. we have to think beyond that as well. >> one of the things that global government seem to be doing is actually passing the buck. oftentimes that buck stops with

china. a lot of people are blaming china for this. they are saying that's where the disruption begins, and it affects the entire global supply chain. is that a fair criticism, or is that once again just blaming the biggest country? >> because china is the biggest manufacturer in the world and usually the largest trading partner of most countries in the world, this blame has some foundations. because right now, the biggest problem for chinese manufacturers is that they don't have the shipping capacity to send those goods out. they are usually one-two quarters behind what they actually hold in a container. we have seen that the countries in china, coastal regions are declining orders. the biggest bottleneck is still shipping a chinese company simply cannot guarantee the shipping delivery. >> stop roast and plymouth, --

stqavros, my producer was eating oreos before this segment. they are made in america. is this getting people to get people to eat more food locally and use more locally manufactured goods? is that a way around this crisis? >> to be honest, i don't think so. even if you see what's happening in the u.k., reducers are saying we don't have the power to slaughter some of the animals. so even if you try to eat locally, you have to think about the overall supply chain and is operating and what factors are affecting it. so at the moment, your right to say that covid is affecting the supply chain.

we will have more disruption of the chinese ports. it's not only china, the u.s. has a lot of vessels queuing out there. it is a matter of making investments in trying to predict the unpredictable. we had an economic crisis back in 2008. we had an increased demand and zero problems then. now we have increased demand, but because you have a problem in supply, it's difficult to navigate and predict them. i think that's a problem that we have to face. we have to make a more resilient network. >> politicians are warning now that there will be shortages in the near future. obviously they are thinking this is a serious problem, but i can't help but think, if you are warning about this now, then it is going to be a problem. but the basic underlying issues haven't changed.

this is a long-term problem, right? >> it's been a bit more sign posting that yes, this is going to occur, and on some level it has triggered panic buying as well. you are so right that this is a long-term problem. you take the u.k. example, covid has only complicated the problem that was already there, we were entering into negotiations with the european union. covid combined with brexit has actually made it a long-term problem that needs a long-term solution. the point you made earlier, what i would like to say is that we need to think about developing supply systems that rely on

local capabilities. the problem is that a lot of manufacturers are so reliant on global suppliers, it might lead to changes in two types of demand patterns as well. so i think this is a long-term problem and we need to think sustainable long-term solutions are it will come back again next year and we will see panic buying. people are buying early for christmas. >> is there more -- a more esoteric a looking at this? are we demanding infinite growth from a planet with finite resources, and actually what we are doing is buying way too much and there does need to be a readjustment of demand?

or is growth everything? >> the world is suffering from consumerism. at this point, i agree with you, we probably can tolerate spending a little bit less on an individual basis. but when it comes to the supply chain, it's a very different situation from 30 years ago. countries have to buy for their own patterns. countries like britain and the u.s. have probably lost their ability to develop a midrange and lower in supply chain of their own. if we look at global goods, about 80% are produced and sold locally. only about 20% is international trade around the world. it's unlikely that any of the countries that did not have the capacity, it's either because of

higher taxes or labor costs, they have to rely on asean, on china. i think this is a new reality that people have to adapt to. they can expect a parallel system, 12 rely on digital supply and one on global soprano -- supply. >> what do you think of what dan has just said? >> i think there is a sense of truth in that one. we have to start thinking that, we haven't managed to find the x product we are looking for, so we can buy the y. i think that will help us to navigate through the crisis. as i said before it's not dealing with globalization, it's

, we have to sell goods and that's a way to prosperity. that's how we have managed to build up our economic models for many years. the future is that yes, we can buy more local stop and think about the choices, but we have to think a bit more holistically and try to find better options that way. >> if you are advising the american government or british government right now, and i know they have different problems when it comes to global supply chain management, what is the first thing you will get the americans to fix and the british to fix? >> on the short to near term, i would really like the u.k. to think carefully about the relationships we have with our european partners and get that sorted in the right way.

in noting some of the crisis situation, yes, covid has complicated the situation, but the problem was already there. so as a nation we need to think about trade and supply chains more carefully, develop local capabilities. yes, we also have challenges on building back better and leveling up. that is something we need to get the negotiations right with our european partners about the problems we have. and for america, and i know less about the u.s. than the u.k., i'm concerned about -- that the containers are not taken off the ships. i think we need to resolve that problem and get that issue

right. in the short-term, they have unions that are working 24/7, but how sustainable is that? we need to think beyond short-term solutions. >> if you are advising the chinese government on a long-term solution or planning to do with this in the future, what would you tell them? >> china's government has already emphasized centering around supply chain security. number two is -- they have to adopt more market-based reform and the power shortage and the bottleneck right now has created an opportunity. we have already seen that in the past month the chinese government has allowed coal powered electricity price to fluctuate more or less based on market demand and supply.

so they have achieved more in a month than in the past decade. >> i want to get you to explain a few those terms for people who might not understand. when you are talking about the chinese power crisis, you are talking about a shortage of power within china itself. is this electricity blackouts? >> correct. there is a power shortage, and that is because the coal prices very high and the electricity price cannot be fully adjusted. only about 25% of china's electricity can fluctuate in the market by demand and the rest is fixed-price. china's government had allowed it to fluctuate and that is quite significant because there was a lot of opposition from the system. >> do you still think this is

probably the best system we have? >> i think so, and if i had to invite us -- advising me of the glover months -- governments around the world, i would say look at the supply chain more carefully and try to think carefully how -- the biggest problems were seeing at the moment are taking place in the u.s. and u.k.. they managed to roll out vaccines quicker than the rest of the world and they managed to reopen their economies quicker than the rest of the world. i think they are victims of their victories because they are having problems with supply because the demand is already there, but the supply is not there to satisfy the demand. so try to think carefully when you open the market, how the market is going to react to demands. i think it is very important for

the near future. >> there is collateral damage when it comes to the global supply chain, it's not just the big economies in the world, china, the u.s., russia, britain, europe, etc. there are poorer nations who can afford to buy those goods because the price has gone up. does that make a difference to how the supply chain works? >> absolutely. that's why there's this whole idea that the supply chain needs to think about supplies more responsibly. for example, when the covid situation started, a lot of big textile retailers terminated the contracts with factories in

bangladesh. it had such a severe impact. we need to think about that more carefully. we need to think of those supplies not just as cost reduction mechanisms but also building sustainable growth over the years as suppliers. >> i want to thank all of our guests, and i want to thank you for watching. you can see the program again any time by visiting al jazeera.com. for further discussion, go to our facebook page. you can also join the conversation on twitter. for me and the whole team here, goodbye for now. ♪

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