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Supply Chain by the Numbers

Nov. 13, 2025

Supply Chain by the Numbers for Nov. 13, 2025

2025 Holiday Sales to Achieve Milestone. China Rolling Out Nuke Plants. GM Tells Supplers to Leave China. Cargo Theft Numbers for Q3


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$1.01 Trillion
That is the forecast for 2025 US retail holiday sales for November and December from the National Retail Federation (NRF), which if accurate will see that full holiday number come in over the trillion-dollar level for the first time, according to projections from the NRF released this week. The NRF sees growth of 3.7% and 4.2% over 2024. By comparison, last year’s holiday sales rose 4.3% over 2023 to reach $976.1 billion. The NRF numbers are inclusive of inflation, which means inflation-adjusted growth is expected to be around 1%.

That is how many nuclear power plants are operating in China currently, with 33 more under construction. That according to a guest column in the Wall Street Journal by Bjorn Lomburg, an apparent expert in matters of global energy. Fueling that rise (pun intended) is a big drop in costs, with timelines of 5-6 years for construction of a new plant, versus about 11 years in the US. That at Chinese costs that are down 50% from that seen in the 1990s, Lomburg writes. But don’t think China is yet moving awa from coal. Lomburg says coal plant construction in the country was at a 10-year high in 2024.



$111.8
That is the value of the freight stolen in the 772 cargo theft incidents in the US and Canada in Q3. That according to the latest quarterly report from cargo security firm CargoNet released this week. The number of cargo thefts was basically flat year-over-year in Q3 and down 10% from Q2, a slowdown in that metric after a steady rise in events for many quarters. However, the average value of stolen shipments doubled to $336,787, up from $168,448 in Q3 2024, clear evidence that cargo thieves are becoming more strategic in selecting targets, CargoNet reports.



2027
That is the year GM has set for thousands of its suppliers to get out of China, according to a report this week from the Reuters news service. The directives date back to 2024 for some, and earlier this year for others, but were discovered by Reuters more recently. GM executives have been telling suppliers they should find alternatives to China for their raw materials and parts, with the goal of eventually moving their supply chains out of the country entirely, sources said. “Automakers and suppliers have responded to Trump’s push for investment and jobs by taking early steps to expand US factory work. But industry executives say they also sense a longer-term, bipartisan shift in US-China relations, and some are moving to unwind China ties that are decades in the making,” Reuters said.

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