UK forms critical imports council to ensure access to key goods

The UK is creating a new panel of business and government representatives to monitor access to vital goods, as part of a long-awaited strategy to protect the economy from supply chain shocks. 

The so-called Critical Imports Council will give companies and officials a platform to identify risks to critical imports and develop plans to protect them, the Department of Business and Trade said Tuesday. The council is part of the Critical Imports and Supply Chains Strategy, which will be released Wednesday in a bid to prevent trade disruptions such as those highlighted by the pandemic and the current attacks in the Red Sea. 

Nusrat Ghani, minister for industry and economic security, is slated to detail the plans during a visit to Heathrow Airport, the UK’s largest import hub. The strategy includes the creation of an online portal for businesses to report red tape or trade disruptions, such as new export bans imposed by other countries, and the establishment of a mechanism for alerting firms to potential risks to their supply chains. 

The strategy is about making sure businesses “no longer have to rely on unpredictable partners for supplies of the goods that keep our country going,” Ghani is expected to say. 

It wasn’t immediately clear how much the strategy would do to insulate Britain from shortages of vital goods and commodities, like personal protective equipment, semiconductors and natural gas. The department provided no promise of new investment to bolster domestic manufacturing capacity comparable to the initiatives promoted by China, the European Union and the US. 

The strategy was developed with input from business groups including the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders and Green Lithium. The government said it would attempt to attract more international investment to projects like lithium mining in Cornwall, to allow the UK to be more self-sufficient in industries such as electric vehicle production. 

Zac Spiro, manager at business consultancy Flint Global, said the strategy was light on detail. But he explained the UK “is a little bit behind the curve on actually mapping out the supply chains for critical sectors and emerging technologies.”

“I think a lot of this stuff is just catching up,” he said. “But there’s a world view in here that is probably along the right lines.”