The real cost of perishable value chains

The global perishables sector is entering a period of sustained volatility, shaped by climate disruption, geopolitical instability, and rising consumer expectations. The future of perishable logistics is more then ever linked with the level of investments along the supply chain.

A $400 Billion crisis before retail

Perishable goods face enormous loss before reaching retail, equivalent to one billion meals wasted daily. Much of this waste is driven by logistics breakdowns across storage, transport, and cold-chain gaps, particularly in hotter regions. With climate disruptions have become structural: 93% of companies experienced climate-related disruption in the past three years, 48% were hit six or more times. Floods, heatwaves, droughts, and waterway restrictions are now continuous variables, reducing shelf life and increasing spoilage.

Disruption is costly and recurring

$400,000 is the average cost per logistics incident according to DP World study. $7 billion is the estimated annual amount of industry losses, 40% of companies lose more than $1 million per year.

Financial and reputational damage occur simultaneously, with 72% reporting increased complaints and 65% losing business. Companies still believe they recover quickly but +90% of them struggle to forecast reliably. According to the survey 55%

Why investment matters

Firms investing in five or more logistics areas reduce disruption costs by 69%. However, visibility, risk planning, and upstream services remain underfunded despite being core drivers of resilience. Investment priorities for a more reliable and sustainable perishables supply chains are the measurement reliability as a sustainability metric, a predictive visibility and real-time data, regional cold-chain networks, the design operations around product integrity (not just cost) and the use of use AI analytics to anticipate and prevent disruptions.

For more information on how better invest on perishable supply chains, you can write here.