UK manufacturers are accelerating plans to nearshore half of their supply chains, but most lack the internal data needed to manage deeper-tier exposure and regulatory risk. New Dun & Bradstreet analysis shows that while localization is rising, visibility gaps are already driving cost increases, quality issues, and supplier concentration risk across the sector.
Nearshoring Plans Rise Faster Than Visibility
According to Dun & Bradstreet, 84% of UK manufacturers expect to nearshore or localize at least half of their supply chain footprint, up sharply from pre-pandemic levels. The move is driven by escalating supply risk, tightening trade rules, and a structural shift away from legacy, single-country sourcing. Nearly two-thirds of manufacturers (64%) say they face greater pressure than last year to understand their broader supplier network beyond tier one.
Yet only 47% use their own operational data to support supply chain decisions. That disconnect highlights the vulnerability of nearshoring plans built largely on external signals rather than structured, integrated internal intelligence. As Bjorn Gerster, European lead at Dun & Bradstreet’s Centre of Excellence Manufacturing, puts it: “Localizing supply chains is a strategic response to volatility, but without the right data, it’s a risky one.”
This lack of multi-tier insight is not unique to the UK. Recent trade analysis shows that more than 70% of global manufacturers still cannot map suppliers beyond the second tier, an increasingly unsustainable gap as governments expand accountability rules under regimes such as the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive.
Data Gaps Drive Real Operational Losses
The report cites a clear operational impact: 41% of UK manufacturers say limited visibility has caused quality issues, 38% report delivery delays, and 35% have increased costs as a result. Time and resource constraints remain major hurdles, with 42% citing lack of time and 40% citing workload pressures as barriers to improving supply intelligence.
Supplier concentration risk remains a compounding factor. More than a quarter (27%) of UK leaders point to over-dependency on single or restricted supplier bases, while an equal share cite data integration and system compatibility concerns. These constraints are surfacing just as regulatory exposure increases. UK respondents are more likely than their global peers to cite tariffs and sanctions as a major supply chain challenge, 42% vs. 34% globally over the past year.
That pressure is expected to persist. One-third of UK manufacturers believe regulatory changes will remain among their biggest risks in 2026, while 21% say those same rules are the hardest to solve. The widening regulatory gap reflects a broader trend: governments are now embedding compliance into sourcing decisions rather than treating it as post-transaction reporting.
A Coming Shift in Supplier Power
One overlooked consequence of nearshoring at scale is how it will redraw bargaining dynamics across regional supplier ecosystems. As more manufacturers compete for the same vetted, geographically proximate partners, pricing leverage is likely to shift downstream, not upstream. Early signals are already visible in sectors such as electronics and specialty chemicals, where suppliers with proven compliance track records are commanding preferential terms and longer-horizon contracts. Nearshoring may bring supply closer to home, but the most prepared suppliers, not the buyers, may soon decide who gets priority access when capacity tightens.
