Enlarge image
Material in a hot rolling mill: No improvement in sight for material shortage
Photo: Soeren Stache / picture alliance/dpa/dpa-Zentralbild
Industrial companies in Germany see no signs of a quick relaxation of the material shortage.
It is likely to last for at least ten months, according to a survey by the Munich Ifo Institute published on Wednesday.
In the June survey, almost three quarters of the companies surveyed (74.1 percent) complained about current difficulties with the delivery of preliminary products and raw materials.
That was only slightly less than in May (77.2 percent).
"Supply bottlenecks are unfortunately part of everyday life for many companies," said Klaus Wohlrabe, head of the Ifo surveys.
An improvement this year is not in sight.
"The hoped-for relaxation in the supply chains is being pushed further and further back," said Wohlrabe.
In the key sectors of German industry, the proportion of companies with delivery problems remains very high.
In the electrical industry, in mechanical engineering and in the automotive industry, around 90 percent of the companies report that they do not get all the materials and preliminary products.
Not a single industry is assuming that the supply problems will resolve this year.
The expected duration of the delivery problems is shortest at 7.2 months in metal production and processing, longest in the beverage industry at 13.1 months.
The Federation of German Industries (BDI) also fears difficult months with ongoing supply bottlenecks - not least because of the problems in China.
The People's Republic is by far the most important trading partner with an exchange of goods last amounting to 245 billion euros in 2021. BDI President Siegfried Russwurm recently complained that China's "questionable zero-Covid strategy" is paralyzing global trade.
The effects of the corona lockdowns in the world's second largest economy, which have now been largely lifted, in the form of production backlogs and disrupted supply chains should still be felt in the summer months.
mmq/Reuters/dpa
