Supply Chain Research

Ryohin Keikaku has placed the U.S. operations of its Muji home goods stores into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection due to “the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic”. U.S. seaborne imports linked to the firm dropped by 78.9% year over year in Q2 after a 52.5% slide in Q1 and a 19.7% slide in Q4. At the product level plastic tableware has proven more robust than furniture and stationary but still dropped markedly. Yet, total U.S. imports of plastic tableware have only declined by 2.7% year over year in Q2 as demand for disposable products has risen during COVID-19. There’s been a ma...