Challenges Facing Selected Industries and Related Global Supply Chains During the Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic induced demand and supply shocks simultaneously and caused major disruptions in global trade flows and supply chains. To help better understand the ongoing economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper provides a qualitative analysis of selected manufacturing and services industries that have been significantly affected by the pandemic. It discusses industry trends through 2020 and the first three quarters of 2021 to the extent the information and data are available, the issues in related global supply chains if applicable, as well as the implications on the road to recovery. This paper primarily pulls data from international organizations and industry associations, supplemented with information from major media reports. This collection of industry-based analyses complements the other working paper simultaneously produced by Erika Bethmann, Emma Blair, Chang Hong, Lin Jones, Chris Montgomery, Huyen Nguyen— “Regional Macroeconomic and Trade Trends During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” which provides a collection of region-based macroeconomic and trade analyses. Together, these two papers aim to provide a set of background information and data for future modeling work on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.