Poland to Become Nearshoring Hotspot

Recent reports suggest that Poland will be primed to enjoy a boom in nearshoring business.

This is all according to analysts at Savills, a Polish-based consulting agency, and is based on a number of factors. For one, the US-China trade was has begun to significantly re-shape global supply and manufacturing chains and has also boosted trade in other parts of the world.

The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2019, however, has turned supply chain resilience into a major political issue. Countries like France, Japan, and India, for instance, have already expressed a desire to become more economically self-reliant.

As far as nearshoring goes, the countries that have the most potential on the European side are mainly concentrated in Eastern Europe. This is largely due to their lower input costs and a large number of direct routes to major Western European markets. 

Ukraine was ranked highest by analysts for European countries and scored second place globally due to its extremely low cost of labor. ON top of that, Ukraine is already a major agricultural exporter, and its open trade environment has drastically increased its near-shoring potential.

Serbia was ranked fourth overall. Another inexpensive market, it benefits from an excel-lent location and some of the best overland travel routes between Europe, the near east, and Russia.

The Czech Republic ranked fifth, largely due to its infrastructure, low overall investment costs, and its already-established export economy. 

All that said, Poland is also expected to be a major beneficiary to the burgeoning near-shoring boom. With a centralized location, a great infrastructure, and relatively low labour costs, it is a standout market with easy access to Western Europe and Asia. Poland also has the largest warehouse market in the CEE region, and boasts a large, stable, and resilient economy, on that has been able to weather many recent global disruptions.