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Delivery bottlenecks are dampening the upswing of many medium-sized companies in Germany and are causing customers to rise in prices and waiting times.
According to a survey by the KfW development bank among 2,400 small and medium-sized companies with a turnover of a maximum of 500 million euros annually, 48 percent of the around 3.8 million medium-sized companies are struggling with the consequences of delivery problems.
According to the survey, every fourth company is forced to adjust the prices of its own products or services due to increased costs for raw materials and intermediate products.
The most common price increases are in the construction industry (61 percent).
Around every fourth medium-sized company is said to be unable to meet delivery dates, and every tenth even has to reject orders because there is a lack of material.
This is particularly a problem in the construction industry.
According to the survey, every fifth company is forced to turn away customers.
The bottlenecks "put enormous stones in the way of small and medium-sized companies on their way out of the corona crisis," says KfW chief economist Fritzi Köhler-Geib, describing the situation.
The manufacturing and construction industries are most affected, but trade and service providers are also affected.
"That takes the momentum of the economy that has just picked up again," said Köhler-Geib.
In addition to microprocessors, steel, aluminum, copper, other metals, plastics and packaging materials as well as wood for the construction and furniture industries are in short supply.
Many companies had reduced their capacities in the corona crisis and are not able to react so quickly to the resurgent demand.
There are also traffic jams at ports and trade conflicts.
Medium-sized companies do not expect the delivery bottlenecks to end quickly.
According to the survey, only five percent of the companies affected expect the situation to ease by the end of the year.
"It should take some time before the delivery bottlenecks resolve," said Koehler-Geib.
“But I assume that the shortage of materials will at least ease somewhat in the coming months.” The catch-up effects could then provide an impetus for a new growth spurt in the coming year.
mmq / dpa-AFX