Covid taught us that world-wide, smooth procurement had its perturbations. I never saw the phrase, "Force Majeure," except in contracts and textbooks, before 2021. Now it has become, no pun intended, lingua franca, especially on construction projects.

Yet, it goes deeper than that. Everyday consumer goods and intermediate manufacturing goods (such as pulp in our industry) can experience a pop-up "Force Majeure" moment.

A government's stance, shipping problems, wars, and other issues such as human rights are causing countries and industries to draw in on themselves and conduct business with those they understand, not those who purport to offer the lowest price. Is it the lowest price if it never arrives?

Pulp and paper, one of the earliest international industries (eclipsed only by oil and gas, perhaps), may need to rethink its business. Those requiring market pulp, for instance, may once again think about the security of domestic sources. It was easy to give them up when the environmental fights became too costly, but is it possible security of supply makes those fights worth having?

Varying recycled content mandates from country to country--might it become too costly to attempt to be all things to all people?

These types of questions would have been unthinkable in 2019. Yet the circumstances facing the world in 2024 make them legitimate questions to ask once again.

Jim Thompson is CEO of Paperitalo Publications.

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