Our latest review of FourKites’ entire ecosystem of supply chain data (millions of deliveries, tens of thousands of companies, fifteen focused industry verticals) indicates that many of the major COVID-19-related supply chain disruptions of the last few months appear to be leveling off.
Food & Beverage Shipment Volumes
In aggregate, over the past month, food and beverage (F&B) shipments have remained stable, having seen just a slight uptick of 1%. But F&B shipments are down 7% when compared to the peak of the panic-buying period this past March, suggesting a return to some semblance of normal buying patterns for many F&B products.
Overall F&B Shipment Volumes
CPG Shipment Volumes
Shipments of consumer packaged goods (CPG) products, however, have not levelled off in the same way. CPG shipments were up 9% in the last month and remain at elevated levels since their initial spike in demand early March.
Overall CPG Volumes
Shipment Volume Trends & Insights
Looking across a range of grocery store aisles, here are some trends we’ve observed across meat, dairy, alcohol and pet food over the last couple months.
- Load cancelations drop for meat processing companies – that is, loads that were planned two to three weeks in advance but were then canceled by the processor – have dropped 24% since their peak the week of April 20, and now reflect pre-pandemic levels. This is a big change from our update in early May, when we had observed month-over-month cancellation increases of 22%. This change could be a reflection of more meat processing plants coming back “online” since the Trump Administration’s executive order compelling them to stay open. That said, overall shipments of meat are still down 15% since March – which could reflect less demand from consumers as meat prices rise and concerns over COVID-19 infections in processing plants continue.
Meat Load Volume By Week
