This Week's Supply Chain by the Numbers -- Less TP at Supervalu, Oil for 2010, New Toy Concerns, TEUs Finally Rise

Supply Chain by the Numbers: Week of January 14 , 2010

-January 14, 2010

This Week’s Supply Chain by the Numbers – Less TP at Supervalu, Oil for 2010, New Toy Concerns, TEUs Finally Rise

The Supply Chain and Logistics Numbers Worth Knowing This Week: SuperValu Decides it Doesn't Need so Much TP; Oil Price Estimates for 2010 seem Low; Cadmium instead of Lead in China Toys; Container Volumes to Rise for First Time in 28 Months



28
The number of consecutive months that US ports had seen year over year declines in container volumes through November of 2009, when volumes were down 10% over November of last year. However, the Port Tracker Report from NRF and The Hackett Group predicts that trend will be broken in December when the final numbers come in, with an expected TEU increase at US ports of 1.7% over 2008.

The number of children's jewelry items out of 103 tested (or about 12%) that contained cadmium levels of 10% or more, according to the Associated Press, with sponsored the testing. There are now concerns that some offshore manufacturers substituted the even more dangerous cadmium when concerns about use of lead in toys arose. Nearly all the items were made in China.


$80
The average price expected for a barrel of oil in 2010, according to an estimate this week by the respected Energy Information Administration. It also forecast average pricing in 2011 of $84 per barrel. With oil already moving around the $80 range, and likely economic recovery coming, we wonder if the EIA estimate will prove to have been too low.




25%
SKU reduction in the area of bath tissue that grocery retailer and wholesaler SuperValu will have achieved by February, according to CEO Craig Herkert in the company's quarterly earnings call this week, as retailers contuinue to reduce SKU counts.