Importing Reagents into Australia: Are there avoidable delays?

Research Australia examined why Australian researchers appear to wait significantly longer than overseas counterparts to receive laboratory reagents. Calls for information to members between March and May 2022 produced case studies from nine individuals across five organisations, supplemented by Australian Bureau of Statistics import data showing reagent imports rising from $569 million in 2019 to $1,074 million in 2021. Contributing factors identified include limited domestic manufacturing, few overseas suppliers, long distributor ordering cycles and limited onshore warehousing in a small market, together with COVID-19 disruptions such as manufacturing shortages, despatch errors, cold-chain failures and customs and quarantine delays. The evidence did not permit quantification of delays or identification of a single cause. The paper concludes that the principal policy lever is government support for domestic reagent manufacturing, potentially under a sovereign manufacturing agenda, with subsidised onshore warehousing as an alternative.