The Covid-19 pandemic and meat supply chains

• Published in: Meat science Vol. 181; p. 108459
• Main Author: Hobbs, Jill E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01-11-2021
• Subjects: Animals; Automation; Cattle; Consumer Behavior; COVID-19 - economics; COVID-19 - epidemiology; Demand and supply shocks; Digitalization; Economies of scale; Food Supply; Food values; Humans; Meat - economics; Poultry; Resiliency; SARS-CoV-2; Swine; Economies of scale; Digitalization; Automation; Resiliency; Food values; Demand and supply shocks
• ISSN: 0309-1740; 1873-4138; 1873-4138
• DOI: 10.1016/j.meatsci.2021.108459

The Covid-19 pandemic has upended societies, economic activity, and business environments. With a focus on the meat processing sector, this paper considers the short, medium, and potential long-term implications of the pandemic for food supply chains. A series of short-run demand and supply shocks affected the food system. The pandemic has generated a lively discourse around the adaptability and resilience of food supply chains in the medium to longer term. Scale and scope economies in meat processing offer significant cost and efficiency advantages, while a more dispersed industry structure can be more flexible. The pandemic is likely to accelerate the adoption of automation and digitalization within food supply chains. The Covid-19 pandemic also focused consumer attention on the food system and the nature of food supply chains. Consumers' underlying food values may shape their response to uncertainty during a pandemic. The pandemic offers lessons for the food industry in proactively identifying and addressing points of vulnerability within supply chains.
•Short-run demand and supply shocks affected food supply chains.•Scale economies in large processing firms provide cost and efficiency advantages.•Dispersed, smaller scale firms with shorter supply chains may be more adaptable.•The pandemic will accelerate the adoption of automation and digitalization.•Consumers' food values are expected to shape their response to the pandemic.